The Story of Rayn
by Adoodlebunny
Summary: Rayn Summers is a young adult just living her life when it's twisted upside down. She's kidnapped and mutated in an attempt to retrieve information she can't bear to reveal - because doing so might be dangerous to her and others. When she accidentally is saved by the turtles, Rayn finds herself in an unusual team-up as they're forced to stick together to stop the coming evil.
1. Just Her Luck

_Welcome to my story! A reminder I do not own TMNT or any of the turtle's character's, only my OCs._

 _I'm updating this chapter to bring some food for thought to new readers, so if you're interested and want to give me feedback I'm welcome to it._

 _An idea I have proposed in a future chapter is illustrating different scenes from this story and posting them online, possibly linking them in this story so readers can have a kind of visual reference for different chapters. Thoughts?_

 _Anyways, carry on reading. Enjoy!_

"Come here, Kiki." The red-head girl called out into the alley, peering into it's depths. She slowly entered the darkness, armed with a flashlight and careful not to scare the creature. "Come on, sweetie, it's just me."

She saw the glow of a pair of eyes in the shadows as she entered cautiously, the flashlight illuminating the small figure of the cat.

"Come here, you're okay." She whispered softly. In a flash, the girl picked up the cat and cuddled her in her arms. Instantly, Kiki started to purr, and no longer looked so scared.

That's when Rayn Summers heard a noise from behind her. Cradling the cat in her arms, she ducked behind a dumpster. "Shhh." She whispered to Kiki. Somehow, the cat seemed to understand the need to be quiet.

Peering from behind the dumpster cautiously, Rayn spotted two beefy guys dressed in dark clothing, with heavy jackets for the season. To top it off, they held guns.

What were they doing here?

Heart pounding, she crouched lower and muttered a short prayer under her breath.

She could hear their heavy footfalls now as they drew nearer, and as they came closer she heard fragments of conversation.

"She went this way, didn't she?" one said.

"Ya, that chick can't have gottin' far."

Trying to slow her breathing, Rayn opened the folds of her jacket and put her tiny kitten inside. She dared not say a word, and hoped that Kiki was as scared as she was to not give them away.

The red-head had no weapons, she didn't even have a purse. All she had was her backpack, but that didn't have anything useful in it. Just her work things.

An idea popped into her head as she heard the men pushing around and kicking trashcans, turning into her corner of the alleyway. She pulled out her backpack, unzipping it silently as Kiki poked her head out. "No, Kiki." She dared to whisper. "Stay back."

She pulled out the wrench she was using for her latest robotics project, slipped her backpack back on, and prepared to run out into the alley.

Rayn slowly counted to three, making sure Kiki was safe inside her jacket, and jumped out from behind the dumpster, running for her life.

"Hey! Grab her!" One of the men shouted.

She swung the heavy wrench at one of the men's head, wincing as it made impact with a loud thunk. The man stumbled backward, trying to grab her, but she slipped by and darted down the alley.

She spotted the fire escape to her apartment and started to climb, seeing the open window that Kiki had somehow managed to sneak out of. But she couldn't lead them back to her apartment. Her roommate, Wylan, would be in trouble then - there was no way she'd allow that.

Reaching the level of her window, Rayn slipped Kiki out of her jacket and set her inside the window. The cat let out a meow and Rayn gave her a gentle pat as she heard the climbing of her pursuers behind her. "Shhh, Wylan will take care of you for now." She whispered, shutting the window carefully.

Reaching up for the ladder rung above her, Rayn climbed up further and jumped onto the roof. She was at a dead end - it was time to face her attackers.

The red-head had experience in some martial arts from high school, but she didn't think it was enough to face against guys with guns. That was way out of her league, and she feared for her safety. Holding her wrench high, she spotted the men stumble onto the roof.

"Ah, Rayn." One of them said, approaching her with weapon raised.

"How do you know my name?" Rayn shouted, backing up slowly. Distantly she noted his hesitation to use his weapon - he could have easily shot her dead by now. Or begged her for her money or something. But he didn't. Why?

"You, my dear girl, have something we have someone paying us a whole lotta money to get." The man laughed. "And you're going to give it to us, or you'll see just how angry our client can get."

"What? Who?" Rayn felt her back hit a wall as she ran out of room on the rooftop. She held her wrench shakily and tried to stare at him menacingly.

"Playin' hard to get, are we?" The man laughed again, his accomplice finally making it up the ladder and joining him.

"Why play with the prey, Ken? Just tranquilize her." The other man yelled.

"I told you not to call me that!" Ken shouted, looking back at the other gang member.

Rayn took that moment to bang the wrench between his legs with all her strength. Ken's knees buckled as he let out a high pitched yelp and fell to his knees.

"We don't have time for this!" The other man shouted. Before she could react, she heard the soft bang of the tranquilizer gun being shot at her and felt the dart hit her shoulder.

Rayn screamed as she fell to her knees, the dart's medicine slowly making her vision fade to black.

The next morning

Don exited his lab to find Leo and Master Splinter watching the lair's television sets as the news blared over the speaker.

".. Reports of a missing girl, Rayn Summers, still spark mystery in the New York police department. She was last seen at her apartment by her roommate, Wylan Malone, CEO of NewWire Inc. located in Manhattan. Due to her status as Malone's assistant it is unknown if foul play was involved. Malone has no comment about the incident at this time. In other news, researches have found that comic books-"

"Hey, Don, check it out!" Mikey zipped towards Donatello on his skateboard, bearing a cape and sunglasses. "I call it, skating with style."

The purple clad turtle jumped out of the way as Mikey came barreling towards him at full speed with a yelp. "Whoa, Mikey, lay on the brakes there."

"Sorry." Mikey stopped, nearly running into Master Splinter as he left his place at the television.

"Maybe it's best if you four get out of the lair for a while." The old rat suggested, slight annoyance creeping into his voice. "My soap operas are about to come on, and I need peace and quiet to find out what happens to Janice."

"Whoa, Splinter suggesting top side?" Raphael looked over from where he was practicing with his punching bag. "I'm in!"

"When are you not in, Raph?" Mikey commented, earning Raph's annoyed grunt as he swatted at his younger brother. "Hah, gotta be quicker than that Raphy-boy!"

Raph chased Mikey as he ran out into the sewers, Donatello following shaking his head.

"We'll be right back, Master Splinter. We'll just do a quick patrol." Leo called out to Splinter, hurrying to catch up.

Splinter settled in the chair and switched the channel on the television, hoping he made the right decision letting his sons go out for the night.

Thanks for reading, your reviews and follows would be much appreciated! I have a lot planned for this story. :)


	2. Lab Rat

Rayn opened her eyes.

There was a bright light shining directly upon her, and she lifted a hand to try to shield her eyes only to discover she couldn't move it. Upon inspection, she noticed her hands were bound to the side.

"Ah, you're awake." A voice said. A huge man with tattoos on his arms approached her and laid a hand beside her head. Rayn squinted to get a better view of him. He had a braid going down one side of his broad shoulders, sporting a tank-top looking shirt and dark pants.

"What do you want from me?" Rayn yelled.

"No need to yell, child. I'm going to be the one asking questions now."

The man came closer to her until all she could see was his ugly face. Try as she might, she couldn't back away and all she could smell was his breath. Hasn't he ever heard of breathe mints?

"Does this look familiar to you?" The man held up a picture of a grimy-looking metal suit of some kind, looking aged and really, really dirty.

"No? I don't know what that is?" Rayn snapped, struggling in her bounds.

"This is a suit your employer, Wylan Malone, fished out of the river. You've heard of him, right?" She winced. What did Wylan do this time to piss this guy off?

"Our sources state that Mr. Malone was using the suit's technology to create some kind of special robots, and you were the head of that project."

All of a sudden, realization hit her like a bullet. My robotics project? What?

Mr. Breath Mints read the recognition on Rayn's face and smiled. "Now are you going to tell me more about this.. Project or am I going to have to force it out of you?"

"Yeah, fat chance of that." She spat. "I'm not telling you anything."

"Ah, so we have a tough one." He reached for a thick needle full of some kind of green liquid sitting on the table next to them. "Master Shredder wanted to use you for his own projects, so maybe you'd be of more use to him.. This way."

Rayn screamed as he smiled.

"I hope we find some of those foot goons tonight." Raph shouted as the four brothers leapt between rooftops.

"We're just going on patrol, nothing too fancy tonight." Leo quickly replied.

"But I really want to kick some heads in." Raph retorted as he stopped at the edge of a building, followed closely by his brothers.

"Tonight's not the night for that." Leo peered into the streets below. Just a bunch of cars, no sign of anything - no gangs, no robberies, nothing for them to stop. No fights.

But, as he said that, they heard sounds of breaking glass and screams nearby. Fate had her own plans for them tonight.

"You were saying?" Raph laughed and started to run in the direction of the sounds.

Leo sighed as Don and Mikey followed behind.

"Come on, Leo. We can't let him have all the fun." Mikey yelled to the eldest turtle.

Leo reluctantly followed as his brothers leaped across the rooftops.

Rayn felt the pain radiate through her body and could distantly hear her own screams as she felt her body change. She had no idea what the dude had done to her, but she could feel herself shift and change - and her world twist until it was something entirely different.

"What are you doing to me?" She screamed at him.

The jerk didn't respond, just laughed and left the room.

It felt like hours passed before Rayn was finally able to think clearly, and when she blinked and the fog cleared, she realized she wasn't bound anymore.

She flexed her hands and shakily got to her feet. Now that she wasn't blinded, she could clearly see she was in a room - like a laboratory, maybe?

There was a large window on the wall and she guessed it had two way glass, because there's no way they'd let her just leave. Right?

Rayn walked over to the door, and as she did so she caught a glimpse of her reflection.

She felt a drop in her stomach and tried to keep from crying out.

Rayn had a medium, slim build with long red hair, usually tied back in some form or another. She still wore her jacket, cargo pants, belt, and boots. The main difference about her appearance was the addition of cat ears. They were black, on the top of her head and as she noticed them she saw them move downward, as if in sadness, like the way cats do sometimes.

Protruding from her lower back was a tail, fluffy and long, reminding her of Kiki's. She looked at herself in horror and realized she must have been transformed somehow - into this new, mutant? Form of herself. It seemed like something out of your generic comic book story, but it wasn't. It was her life and it was all to real.

That's when Rayn decided she had to get out of here, and prevent these people from getting whatever they were searching for, including her.

She had to get out of here.

The four turtles peered down from the top of the rooftop at the scene before them.

Below, the sounds of shouting echoed upwards and the brothers watched as Purple Dragons gathered toward what looked like a business man, shouting in fear for help to the empty alleyway.

"Oh man, should we help him?" Donatello commented, looking at his brothers.

"Yeah. Let's show him what it means to be mean and green." Raph commented back, not hesitating before jumping over onto the fire escape below.

"Raph, wait—oh shell." Leo watched as slowly his brothers all followed suit, leaving him alone.

Wylan Malone stood at the end of the alley, watching as he was slowly approached by three of the Purple Dragons. He knew who they were, but he didn't think they'd try to attack him.

Wylan didn't even know what they wanted.

He didn't bother trying to bargain with them, because he had nothing to give — his wallet only had enough to buy food and other necessities, he didn't carry cards, he didn't have any weapons. The young man was wearing his usual long trench-coat like coat and black pants, wearing heavy work boots and glasses.

Wylan didn't even dress rich. He just dressed like the geek he was - owning a high-end tech company, trying to invent knew things with the help of his friend Rayn.

Rayn, who went missing. Possibly kidnapped or worse. Did she have anything to do with this?

In fact, he knew these gang members were saying things but Wylan's brain just kind tuned them out, in fear.

"Hey, kid, you mute or somethin'?" one of them yelled, catching his attention.

"No." Wylan replied simply despite his fears, the word barely making it out.

The gang members advanced, laughing menacingly and making crude remarks, and Wylan closed his eyes. He braced himself for them to beat him up, or whatever - but that never came.

The sounds of metal and fighting broke across the empty silence. Suddenly, he opened his eyes and he wasn't alone.

Between Wylan and the gang members were four green masked.. Creatures. They moved like a blur, fast enough that he couldn't bear to hope to catch up. It was almost like Rayn when she practiced her yoga - except faster and more fluid.

Raph spotted the man at the end of the alley cowering, and as he kicked a gang member away, he called out to Wylan. "Hey man, you okay?"

Wylan jerked his attention towards the mutant. In fact, his knowledge of biology was coming through and he realized the creature was in fact a giant turtle.

And said turtle was making quick work of his opponents. Soon, all three had no kick left and were left dazed and confused on the ground. Wylan realized it was just him and these turtles.

Except.. Wylan's keen senses spotted another guy across the alley. The gang member was holding a phone to his ear and frantically speaking into it.

"Hey, that guy's calling for backup!" Wylan called out to his rescuers. Four heads turned and spotted the gang member, who dropped his phone in surprise and yelped.

"We got a squealer?" Raphael shouted as he drew his sais and twirled them in his hands.

Crying out the goon got to his feet and tried to run away, only to be blocked by Raph.

"Raph, wait." Leo shouted as he and Mikey came towards the fight.

Donatello, meanwhile, was cautiously approaching the figure at the other end of the alley. Sensing Wylan's fear, he put his bo-staff away. "Are you hurt?" The turtle asked cautiously. "What did those guys want from you?"

Reluctantly, Wylan let the turtle help him up. "I don't know." He said shakily.

"Well—" Before Don could say anything else, he heard shouting come from the end of the alley - and saw more of the Purple Dragons entering the alley.

"You heard the boss - we need to catch that guy!" One of them shouted.

"Just stay behind us." Don told Wylan, who had yelped in fear. "We'll take care of them."

Wylan gulped and watched as the turtle went to join his brothers in the fight. Boy, would this be a long night..

Rayn had, somehow, managed to open the door.

She didn't understand how, but after a lot of tugging and pulling, she somehow got it.

Rayn also could feel herself stronger - her..alteration must have helped with that. But her captives didn't seem to have predicted that.

She slowly exited the room, her tail twitching automatically behind her as she walked into a corridor.

 _I hope this was long enough and an interesting read - next chapters will probably get better. Stay tuned! Really enjoying writing this so there'll probably be frequent updates._


	3. Turtle-napped

Thanks to anyone who's read so far ^-^

Wylan watched the turtle creatures fight and wonder if he'd make it out of this alive.

Leo ducked as one of the Purple Dragons took a swing at him, and with one swift movement swiped the man off his feet. He then hit another one out of the way of attacking Don, who was in his own battle.

"Thanks bro!" The genius called out, hitting another guy with his bo-staff.

Wylan started to inch his way, back against the wall, heart pounding, away from the fight. If he could get away, these.. Turtles would be able to get rid of the dragons and he could call the cops. He was so close, but stopped as he ducked and narrowly missed Raph throwing a gang member against the wall.

"Hey, kid, watch out!" The turtle called out as Wylan yelped and ducked further to avoid the turtle kicking a goon away.

"I'm not a kid!" Wylan yelled back, then cursed himself inwardly for saying anything.

One of the dragons noticed him. "Yo, our boy is getting away!"

He felt a hand grab his arm and pull him further away.

"Come on, we've got to get you out of here." The purple turtle from before told him as he swiped another gang member out of the way. "Whatever these jerks want with you it can't be good."

Crap, Wylan thought to himself as he was pulled down the alley. How do I get out of here now?

"Enough!" A voice called from the darkness. "Just dart the kid and let's get out of here." One of the bigger, leader-looking dragons came from the darkness holding a tranquilizer gun.

There were about ten of the gang members left, so they stopped fighting the turtles and turned their full attention on Wylan, still being pulled along by Don.

Leo pulled Mikey down as one of the dragons near them shot a dart towards Wylan. Don yelled and pulled Wylan out of the way just in time.

"Come on, it's time to leave." Leo sliced one of the dragon's guns away with his katana and leapt up onto the fire escape.

Wylan found himself being pulled towards that as Don pushed him upwards to the fire escape. "Come on."

Reluctantly, Raphael followed his brothers upwards, slicing a dart aimed at Don with his sais.

Mikey was the last to realize they were leaving. "Hey, wait, where are we going?"

Clueless, Mikey started to run towards the fire escape.

One of the gang members caught sight of him and fired his dart gun instinctively. Before Mikey could realize what was happening, he was struck in the shoulder by a dart.

"Oh shell." The orange turtle cried out as he tripped and fell on the ground.

Raph, still climbing, heard Mikey's yell and stopped climbing for a second. "Mikey!"

Don and Wylan were almost to the top, but Don paused, looking back. He realized what happened and immediately jumped back down, running to Mikey's aid.

"Grab him, let's get out of here." One of the gang members yelled. "It's better than nothing! We can give him these green freaks!"

Two dragons picked up a unconscious Michaelangelo and started to carry him to the truck, when Raph reached the ground and started to run after them.

"Mikey!"

Wylan had reached the roof and was left with Leo. But Leo had heard what happened below and also ran to help Mikey, abandoning Wylan on the rooftop.

Thinking fast, Wylan ran to the other side of the roof and opened the door to a rooftop shed, closing it behind him and looking around for something to block it. He pulled out a large wooden plank from underneath a pile of rubbish, sliding it into the handle of the door.

The man fell against the door, breathing heavily, and tried not to throw up. All the events of the night were catching up to him and he was exhausted. But he knew he had to stay put and wait for the cops or someone to rescue him, so he could get back to his apartment safe.

On the ground, Raph had knocked out two more Purple Dragons and chased after the van with Mikey in it, yelling as it started to outrun him. The red-clad turtle leapt up in a last desperate attempt, and thrust one of his sais into the side of the van, hanging on and grunting as the van jerked and swerved with the impact.

Leo had caught up to Don, who had paused.

The genius had the control out for the battle shell, calling in to their exact location.

"Donnie, where are they taking him?" Leo called out.

"I don't know, some kind of headquarters? All I know is our ride is here." Both turtles turned as the battle shell sped towards their location, it's tires screeching, and Don opened the door to the drivers side. Both hopped in and within seconds the vehicle was moving in hot pursuit of their two brothers.


	4. Accidental Rescue

Rayn was running down the hallway of this building, peering into rooms as she passed them, hoping to see her backpack. She had to keep it out of these goons hands, if they had it then there's no doubt they'd do some sort of evil with her technology.

Passing another open door, Rayn glanced it and spotted what seemed like a storage room. She stopped, going in further. To her surprise and luck, sitting on one of the tables like it was tossed aside was her backpack.

"Thank the heavens." She muttered, grabbing it and peering inside. Everything seemed to be still intact, and there was no way they could have activated anything without proper authorization. She'd made sure of that.

Slipping the bag over her shoulder, Rayn ran out again and scanned the hallway. Now she just had to get out of there.

But it seemed like luck wasn't on her side this time, because she turned another corner of the never-ending corridors and ran straight into a group of burly looking men.

They looked shocked at her appearance, a few shouting and stepping backward. Rayn took that opportunity to throw a punch at the nearest man, knocking him back against the wall.

Rayn slid underneath the other goon's legs and scrambled to her feet as the guy jumped, turning around.

But she had already started running in the opposite direction just as more men joined the party.

"Come on, Rayn." She muttered to herself. "How do I stop them?"

She ran onward straight into more men just as she spotted a pair of open doors ahead, leading into the New York Streets.

Raph clung to the top of the moving truck as it suddenly stopped, his sais the only thing preventing him from being flung off.

When it stopped, the Purple Dragons driving jumped out and looked around before cautiously opening the back.

Raph silently jumped to the ground behind him, pulling his sais out with one fluid motion.

With one flying sweep, he had one of the gang members on the ground.

"It's those green guys again!" One of them shouted before Raph turned with a grunt and swung a sai in his direction. With both goons moaning on the ground, Raphael approached the truck door and peered in. "Mikey?"

A moan came from inside as Mikey sat up, looking at Raph. "Ughh, my head."

"Come on shell for brains, let's get you out of here." Raph sheathed his sais and put an arm around Mikey to help him up.

Both turtles head the screeching of tires outside and carefully Raphael carried his brother out, just in time for Leo and Don to jump out of the Battle Shell.

"Mikey!" Don cried as they joined up with their brothers.

"Uh, guys." Raph turned around holding the dazed Mikey. "We've got more Dragons incoming!"

With a lot of shouting, more men came towards them until they were surrounded.

Groggily, Mikey rubbed his eyes. "Man, what did I miss?"

"The welcoming party." Don replied as he drew his bo-staff.

Rayn kicked one of the dragons in the chest as she ducked from a different swing, dancing backward on light feet. But she was grabbed from behind by one of the Dragons, arms pinned to her sides. "I got her!" he shouted.

Rayn struggled and kicked him but he was far stronger than her, and she was trapped. Again.

"Take her back to the lab." One of the other men ordered.

"No!" Rayn used all her strength to kick backwards into the dragon's chest, sending him stumbling backwards and letting her go. She swung another fist towards a different goon, but she was vastly outnumbered. She had to create a diversion to get away..

Suddenly, she remembered. Her robotics project.. It wasn't 100% complete yet, but one of the pieces could easily be modified to blow up and create a diversion for her to get the heck out of there.

Taking off her backpack, she swung it at a different guy and heard it hit with a loud bang. Then she turned in the other direction and ducked into one of the rooms, slamming the door. Thinking fast, she grabbed a chair and jammed it under the door handle to keep them from entering. Then she unzipped the backpack and took out a small, unfinished robotic ball.

It was like a tiny sphere, with a glass outline shaped like a mask. Tiny pieces of metal hung on three sides of the sphere, forming pieces that looked almost like legs. On the bottom was three circular holes; places for rockets to propel the robot around. But, for this piece at least, it was unfinished. Pieces of wire still hung out from the frame, and one of the "legs" was missing a portion.

Rayn crouched and took one of those wires, opening a panel on the back of the robot and tinkering inside. She moved around a few wires and set the robot back down.

She zipped and swung her backpack over her shoulder again just as the door broke down, the chair being thrown to the side.

"Awwh, are you playing hide and seek, little girl?" One of the men taunted. "You're not going to be hiding for long."

Ignoring him, she swung at one of the goons and jumped over him, running to the open doors. As she did so she dropped the robot while tapping a button on its underside.

Rayn barely had enough time to exit the building before her robot exploded, sending her flying.

For such a little robot, it sure packed a punch. She thought to herself as she was thrown to the ground.

Ahead of her, Don swung his bostaff at one of the Dragons and then kicked out him out of the way when he noticed the explosion. "Guys, get down!"

Leo ducked from a swing as he heard Don's shout, just barely managing to hide behind the truck before the explosion hit.

"Mikey, look out!" Raph grabbed Mikey and pulled him to the side as they were thrown sideways.

"Owwww." Mikey cried out.

Coughing, Rayn stood up again. Her robot had managed to collapse the wall that held the entrance to the building - none of the gang members could get out.

In the commotion, a lot of the other ones were thrown to the ground, and as the smoke cleared she had a clear path to leave.

She sprinted towards the street, not noticing the lone purple dragon approaching her from the side.

Said dragon swung his bat at her, it colliding with her head as she was thrown towards where Don had hid.

"Get off me!" She yelled as she was pinned to the ground.

The dragon laughed and swung his bat at her while she screamed, feeling it collide with her head.

Before he could attack again, his bat was intercepted by a bo-staff as Donatello joined the fight, kicking the dragon back from the unconscious girl.

"Leave her alone!" The turtle cried, swiping the man off his feet with the staff.

With a groan the guy landed hard against the wall and slumped.

Don knelt by Rayn as his brothers joined him.

"Whoa, who's she?" Raph asked, sheathing his sais once more.

"I don't know." The genius replied, gently lifting her into his arms. "We should get her back to the lair where she can be safe, I don't know what her injuries are."

"Is she.. Like us?" Leo gestured towards her unusual form.

"Maybe." Don replied absently as he headed back to the Battle Shell, his brothers following suit. "We'll have to ask her when she wakes up."


	5. Meeting her rescuers

**I really appreciate any comments anyone leaves, this is so fun to write 3**

"Hey, is she waking up?" A voice asked in Rayn's distant subconscious.

She felt like she was swimming, struggling to wake up and open her eyes. If anything the day's exhaustion has caught up to her, but she needed to get ahold of Wylan, she needed to see if Kiki was okay—

And that's when she finally opened her eyes.

Four figures stood hovering over her slightly. They were shadows to her blurred vision right now, but she still managed to scream and slap one in the face.

"OWWWW!" the figure cried out, jumping backward.

Rayn started to sit up but felt the world shift around her and grimaced, hugging the side of the couch.

The couch?

As her vision focused, she realized the creatures had green skin and wore identical masks in different colors. But they seemed on edge since she had just slapped the orange-masked one, each holding their own set of weapons.

"What do you guys want from me?" She demanded as she struggled again to sit up.

"Nothing — we want to help you." The purple turtle replied, slowly dropping his weapon. He held out a hand to her.

Rayn studied him, trying to figure out if his friendliness was genuine. But when she finally did accept his hand, she realized that her backpack was gone - again.

"Wait— you took my backpack!" She stammered, falling backward onto the couch again.

"Uh, wait, it's right here." The red turtle pointed with a sai to the other side of the room. The room — From that gesture, Rayn realized she was no longer in New York. And this place, it was huge. Columns lined the circular room with a pool in the middle, and in front of her were a bunch of huge TVs. Her backpack was resting against one.

Sighing, Rayn relaxed slightly and looked back towards the purple turtle. This one seemed like the kindness of them all, she realized silently. Even though she was thoroughly freaked out by these creatures and their humanoid appearance, she really was too tired to puzzle over it anymore. Besides, she'd seen some weird things in her lifetime. Starting with her own reflection earlier that day.

"Who are you guys?" Rayn finally whispered.

"We're turtles, well, brothers too." The purple one explained. "My name is Donatello."

As his brothers all announced their names, they slowly sheathed their weapons as they realized this girl wasn't a threat.

"I'm Rayn." She introduced herself simply.

"Rayn? Weren't you on the news?" Leo commented, looking back at the black screen of the television.

"I was?" she looked at him in surprise.

"You're a missing person, apparently." Raphael leaned against one of the other chairs and observed her keenly.

"Well.. I was kidnapped by some guys wearing dragon tattoos." She explained softly, looking at her hands. "They want.. My robotics project? I don't know. I refused to give it to them, and they turned me into this."

Don and Leo exchanged glances. "How did you end up being a… cat?" Don asked.

Rayn looked at herself in the reflection of the televisions, her ears twitching automatically. How did she become like this?

"I'm not sure.." She trailed off as an idea came to her. Kiki, her cat. That's the last animal she touched before she was..taken. "Wait. My cat, Kiki. Before the fight, I was trying to get her to come back inside. They must've used some kind of chemical on me.. That changed me into the last thing I touched."

"What's so special about this project that has those wackbags chasing ya?" Raph commented, looking at her bag.

"The.. Guy said something about Wylan fishing it from the river." She replied. "I don't know, I got access to some cool tech and used it to create these."

Carefully, she got to her feet and walked to her backpack, unzipping it. She pulled out one of her robots. "The issue is, they're not quite done." She continued. "Currently they only respond to basic commands…"

Rayn set the robot down and pulled out a small headset from the backpack. Putting it on, she muttered something too quiet for the turtles, even with their heightened senses, to hear.

The robot's screen flickered and the small sphere started to hover in the air. With another inaudible prompt from Rayn, it floated towards the the girl and gently hovered over her open palms before settling into them.

"That's so wicked cool!" Mikey broke the silence in awe.

"Yeah, but what do they want with a bunch of robots?" Raph questioned. "They've got Stockman."

"They'd probably using them for some kinda foot operation or something." Don said thoughtfully as he stood up and walked over to Rayn to get a better look at her robot. "We can't let them have these."

"Wait." Rayn nearly dropped her robot as realization washed over her. "They won't have the robots, but the blueprints are still in my computer at Wylan's office." Rayn looked around at the group, fear plain on her face and her tail twitching anxiously.

"Well, if all they do is float and look pretty, why would a bunch of Purple Dragons want them?" Leo looked at the robot in Rayn's hands.

"Because that's not all they're designed to do." She set the robot on the floor again, crouching and reaching for her backpack. "The idea was to make them useful for the police and other government agencies. They can respond to commands and, with the right equipment, blend into the environment to go on missions. Maybe even, eventually, they can be programmed to fly to natural disaster locations and bring resources to people who need them."

Silence filled the room as the turtles looked at each other. If the Purple Dragons, or even the Shredder and his Foot, got a hold of this girl's robots.. They'd probably use them for their own selfish needs, maybe even to find the turtle's lair.

Rayn uneasily placed the robot gently in her backpack and slipped it on her shoulders.

"I have to go and get them." The girl stated shakily.

"Wait." The eldest turtle walked towards her. "It's too dangerous for you to go alone. We'll come with you. Those blueprints can't get into the wrong hands."

Silent, Rayn looked around at the four turtles, who were nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't want to think about what old buckethead would do with them." Raph huffed in anger, twirling one of his sais.

"We need a plan, though." Don stated and looked at Rayn thoughtfully. "Do you know the layout of the building?"

"Well.." She crouched and unzipped her backpack again. "There's a basic schematic programmed into the robot's memories. If I can download it onto my tablet, we can use it as a plan."

"Okay, can you do that on the way?" Leo asked Rayn.

She nodded, tail swishing behind her. "Yeah, it doesn't take long."

"Then we'll need you and Don to work out a plan based on that to get to this Wylan guy's lab."

With that, all four of them headed towards the large elevator-like doors on one wall of this.. Lair. Rayn, puzzled, watched them for a second. Why were they helping her, exactly? She did nothing to help them.

"Come on, the Battle Shell is this way." Don, who saw Rayn lagging behind, came back and reached out a hand to help her up.

The girl nodded and accepted it, allowing him to pull her to her feet as they walked together to the elevator.


	6. Fighting back

Any comments or reviews are appreciated, thanks to anyone who's left anything so far! 3

Rayn watched the download icon on her tablet slowly come to 100% as she and the turtles sped through the streets of New York.

The download icon, finally, hit 100% and she tapped on the blueprints.

"Okay." She scanned the document, frowning. "My office, well, room was over here." She pointed at a pixelated box on the screen, as Donatello peered over her shoulder.

"This looks like a modified office building." The turtle commented.

"Well.. It is. Wylan bought it like 4 years ago." Rayn pointed at another section of the screen. "This used to be the break room. I think there was some vents in there? And there was a large window too."

"Hmm. Looks like we found ourselves an entry point. Otherwise, we could see if there's any vents on the roof." Don added.

Rayn nodded, setting her tablet down.

"How's the plan, guys?" Leo peered back from the passengers seat.

"Think we've got it." The genius answered. "We're good to go."

"Good, cuz we're here." Raph pulled into an alleyway across the street from the building. It was your standard office building, only a few stories high, and Wylan's sector was on the top. He hadn't wanted to buy the whole building even though he could have if he wanted to. Rayn always wondered about that but never questioned it.

The five of them jumped out of the vehicle, looking across the street.

"Well. We've got to get up to the top first of all." Don announced as he saw his brothers look to him for the plan. "Then we can go in, Rayn can lead us."

"Rayn, can you climb?" Leo asked her.

"Yeah.. I went rock climbing once.." She trailed off, studying the building. It was just a giant rock, right?

"Well, we've got these." Don handed her a pair of their climbing spikes, and she put them on her hands. "I'll help you, come on."

She nodded and followed the turtles as they ran across the street.

"Wait." Rayn stopped before they started climbing, the four turtles looking at her. Her ears twitched and she looked upward. "Wylan's security cameras, he'll see us."

"There's cameras? I don't see anything." Raph commented.

Without saying anything, Rayn reached for her backpack. "I think this should take care of it." She unzipped and pulled out a small disk, which looked almost like a ninja star. With a quick motion of her wrist, she threw it upward and it hit a single brick. The brick started to buzz for a second, and then flickered until it revealed a block with a camera on the inside. "He's got holographic cameras on all sides, but only on the first and last floor." She explained, rezipping her backpack. "Unfortunately, that was the only one I had.. It was a prototype."

"It's okay, Donnie here can help you make more." Mikey nudged his brother. "Right Don?"

Before the genius could comment, Leo interrupted. "Okay, how can we take out the next security camera? Do you know where it is?"

"Um." Rayn looked upwards, studying the building. "I think we can go around it. Wylan's not very good with checking his cameras, and he's a heavy sleeper. We can easily wipe the footage if we need to."

Raph exchanged a glance with Leo. "So we're riding on luck here? Does he have any security defenses?"

"No. He doesn't really plan for people to attack him." Rayn replied.

"Okay, let's go then." Leo started to climb up the building, the rest of his brothers following.

Rayn hesitated, then unzipped her backpack partially and pulled out her headset. She put it on and started the climb.

Having a backup was a good idea, she told herself. Just incase.

—

"Okay, the break room is over here." Rayn called up to the turtles above her.

She nodded her head in the direction. They were currently high above the city. Although she wasn't afraid of heights, she saw a new threat that made her stomach drop - she could spy the water from here, since Wylan's building was next to the river. Shivering, Rayn hoped they wouldn't go anywhere near it.

Don saw her pause for a second and called up. "You okay?"

"Yeah.. I just don't like water." Rayn looked below shakily towards Don.

The turtle nodded. Maybe she couldn't swim or something. He made a mental note to remember that just in case.

She followed the other three with Don close behind as they headed towards the window.

Soon after, the five of them crowded around the glass of the window, with the river just behind them. "Okay, Don." Leo looked at the genius.

With one hand on the building, Don braced himself and reached in his bag for his window cutter. Placing it on the window, it cut in a circle and just barely allowed them access to the room.

"Okay, Rayn, where now?"

Before the could reply, her newly sensitive ears heard voices coming in their direction. "Uh, hide." She whispered, ducking to the side.

But looking around she noticed the turtles had already disappeared.

"Rayn." Don called out from behind a cabinet. She raced towards him, and he pulled her behind just as the door opened and the light switch turned on.

Wylan entered, his trench coat fluttering behind him as he moved quickly towards the sink at the edge of the room.

He filled up a glass with water and exited, flicking off the lights, all while muttering into his phone that was pressed against his ear.

"I thought you said this Wylan guy was asleep by now?" Raph questioned Rayn as he jumped down from the ceiling.

Rayn and Don followed, coming from their hiding spot. "Late night, probably. He has a new client he's trying to impress.." She trailed off as Leo interrupted her.

"Wait, that guy.. He looks familiar."

"Isn't that the dude we saved back in the alley?" Mikey asked.

"Uhh.. Yeah." Don exchanged glances with his brothers.

"You guys know him then?" Rayn's tail swished behind her as all five of them met in the center of the room.

"Sorta." Don answered.

"Okay, let's get moving. Rayn, you lead." Leo instructed, looking at her to start.

Rayn nodded and started out the door, turning to the left.

Halfway down the hallway, she stopped and gestured towards the camera. It was pointed towards the corner of the hallway. "Go under it." She whispered, ducking and slowly inching across the wall underneath the camera.

The turtles followed her, as she stood up and starting down the next hallway.

"Okay, here." She peered into a dark room. On the door, it just simply read SUMMERS. She was surprised it wasn't shut - that's usually how she left her office. Wylan must have been using it.

Don pulled a small flashlight from his bag and turned it on, handing it to Rayn. She nodded a thanks and aimed it around the room.

"Okay, Raph, Mikey, you're on watch duty." Leo whispered.

Both nodded and stood on either side of the door. Raph quietly closed it, not fully, but just enough to not see who was inside.

Shining her flashlight around her office, Rayn was slightly amused at the things she kept in here. Across from the door was her L-Shaped desk, with the small window on the other side. She had a cabinet and a table on the opposite wall. The table sported a lot of random bits and pieces of some of her projects. A shelf was next to the door, which held a bunch of random figurines from her favorite movies and comic books.

Finally, she settled the flashlight on her computer. "This won't take that long." She whispered, pulling out her tablet.

She connected it and started downloading all her blueprints and files.

But, it seems, life couldn't be that easy. Rayn's ears twitched as they picked up sounds coming from the hallway.

"Someone's coming!" Mikey's voice cried a second later. Within seconds, the other three brothers had hid. She looked at Don and he pulled her under the desk.

"Hmm." Wylan's voice came from outside. "I thought I kept this closed."

Liar, Rayn thought to herself absently. He left it open.

Rayn heard the faint sounds of the door closing and the click of the lock. She released the breath she didn't realize she was holding, crawling out from under the desk.

Despite his genius, Wylan wasn't very intuitive.

"Rayn, is it done yet?" Leo's whisper came from the left, and she saw him jump down from his hiding spot.

But in that instant, she heard the crash from behind her, turning sharply - and saw the shelf with her collectibles had fell to the ground, with a startled Michaelangelo standing next to it. "Oops." The turtle whispered. "Hey, wait, is this Silver Sentry?"

Rayn heard footsteps coming fast down the hallway. "He'll open the door any second, and I don't think we'll be able to hide this time." Don whispered to Leo.

"You guys hide, I'll take care of him." Rayn told them. She aimed her flashlight towards her cabinet and spotted her Metts hat. She quickly put it on, tying her hair up and covering her ears. As for her tail, she hoped he didn't come close enough to notice it.

Looking around, she noticed all her friends had disappeared. Don was near her in their old hiding spot, Mikey and Raph were somewhere near the door, and Leo was behind one of the cabinets near her table.

The door opened and Wylan walked in, switching on the light.

Spotting Rayn, he yelped in surprise. "Rayn?! I thought you were—"

"Oh, hey Wylan." She looked up from where she was standing. "I thought you were out for the night."

"Uhmm.. Rayn, you shouldn't be here." Wylan looked around anxiously. Rayn, wincing, hoped he wouldn't see what else lurked in the shadows.

"Why not? I wanted to finish up some late night work." She replied.

"Well.." Wylan turned around and another figure entered the room. This one she recognized - the big, ugly, no-breathe mints dude she met when she was turned into this form.

She grimaced. This wasn't going to end well at all.


	7. Friends or foe

"Hello, my new.. Furry friend." Mr. Breathe Mints greeted her. "What a pleasure to see you again, Miss Rayn."

"Wylan? Who's this?" Rayn shouted, looking at Wylan.

"My new business partner." Wylan looked at his shoes. "Sorry, Rayn. You were kinda.. A part of the agreement."

Realization dawned on her. Wylan was the reason she was captured? But.. Why?

Without hesitation, Rayn slammed her fist into Wylan's head, knocking him back into his new burly business partner.

"You jerk." She yelled. "You traitor!"

Distantly, she noticed the dull beep that indicated her download was done.

Before she could react, the giant entered the room, shoving Wylan out of the way. "I think you owe me something, little girl. How about we start with those.. Blueprints of yours?"

"I think not, Hun." Leo's voice came from above her as he jumped down, standing in front of Rayn. Soon, Raph and Mikey joined, each drawing respective weapons. Don exited his hiding spot, behind Rayn but next to the tablet. He grabbed it and tossed it to Rayn, who tucked it in her belt.

"You!" Hun yelled. "You.. Turtles. You're with her?"

Wylan looked around at the four humanoid turtles. They were on Rayn's side?

Hun growled and took off his jacket, revealing his muscular body and tattoos. Wylan's heart sank as he realized this guy was a Purple Dragon.. And they were the ones who chased him in the alley when he last met the turtles.

Well, at least they were on the same side.

The giant charged towards Leo, who ducked and kicked him backwards into the desk Rayn was behind.

She screamed and jumped out of the way.

Wylan used that opportunity to grab her from behind and shove her towards Hun. "You're not getting away, Rayn." He announced, trying to sound heroic.

"Leave her alone!" Don shouted as he swung his bo-staff at Wylan, sending him into Rayn's cabinet.

"Guys, we're getting out of here." Leo told them, dodging a punch from Hun.

"Not so fast, turtle." Hun tried to grab Leo, but he jumped over him and kicked him backwards towards the door.

Hun fell through the door, creating a large hole with a grunt.

Rayn followed the turtles as they ran towards the exit, jumping over Hun as they ran.

She paused at the door, looking back at the dazed Wylan.

She wouldn't be missing him.

Rayn looked up at the camera as she passed it, turning into the hallway leading to the break room. "I installed a virus on my computer when I wiped my hard drive, all footage from the last three hours should be gone." She yelled to the turtles.

Stopping at the door to the break room, Rayn followed her friends.

"Stop! They're getting away!" She heard Hun cry out from behind them as he followed them.

More footsteps followed - several Purple Dragons entered, followed closely by Hun.

"Rayn, stay behind us." Don told her as he and his brothers withdrew their weapons.

She watched as the brothers dodged and kicked the Dragons in expertise, wishing she had the skill to do so as well.

But she spotted another problem - one of the Dragons carried a large arsenal gun. "Guys, watch out!" She cried. Leo noticed her shout and threw his goon in that direction, knocking the gun-welding Dragon to the ground. The gun went flying towards Hun, who picked it up.

"Alright, girly." Hun used his big arms to knock some of his men out of the way, approaching Rayn. "You're not going to be able to escape this one."

"Rayn!" Don cried out, trying to rush towards her, but he was pulled back into the battle by one of the Dragons.

It was up to her - she had no guardian turtles to help her this time.

She had to rely on what she had.

"Omni, protect." She whispered into her headset.

The robot omni from her backpack flickered to life and flew out of the slit she left open, coming towards Hun. The unfinished "arms" on the side of its head started to spin, creating a deadly swirl of metal.

Hun grunted and brought a fist down on the robot, but it dodged out of the way. It's blades stopped spinning and the robot brought its arms across the big man's wrist, latching on.

"AGH!" Hun cried as he tried to get it off. The robot sent a small charge through itself into Hun, who grunted and dropped his gun.

Rayn took that opportunity to throw a punch directly at Hun's face, sending him backwards into the wall. The omni released and flew back towards Rayn.

The turtles, meanwhile, had managed to leave all the men on the ground groaning.

"Well, I guess we can get out of here now." Don said, looking at his brothers and Rayn.

"Okay, let's go." Leo commanded, heading towards the window.

But to his surprise, a chair came flying in his direction. He jumped out of the way as it went through the window and into the water below, landing in a crouch.

Rayn turned in that direction and saw Wylan standing in the doorway.

"No one's leaving!" He cried, picking up another chair and throwing it towards Rayn.

She yelped and leaped out of the way, landing on the ground in a roll.

But from behind, she felt a strong arm grab her arm - Hun. She screamed as he picked her up and threw her across the room - directly into the window.

"Rayn! No!" Leo cried as he tried to grab her, but she felt herself fly directly out the window into the water.

The turtles were forced to scatter as the rocket gun was fired in their direction, going straight out the window.

"Into the river!" Leo cried as he jumped out the window after Rayn.

Raph leapt across the floor, sending a kick to Hun that sent him into Mikey, who threw him back towards Wylan. Both turtles jumped out the window after their brother.

Don was the last out, and he used his bo-staff to propel himself out the window and into the watery depths below.


	8. Into the depths

Rayn felt herself tumbling through the air, and as she fell, visions crept into her mind like something hit the play button.

A younger Rayn was sitting on the edge of a boat, peering down into the water. The vision blurred for a second and then suddenly she was in the water, screaming and crying as she drifted into the watery trap.

And then, the vision changed.

Rayn was watching as a woman stood smiling at the edge of the boat. Then, with a scream, she was overboard - and Rayn stood screaming and crying as she watched her fall into the depths.

Rayn's vision blurred as she looked downwards towards the water, and went into its murky depths.

She rolled under the water and felt its suffocating weight crush her, as she struggled to break free of her newfound bonds. But even now she wasn't strong enough, and her vision started to fade to blankness as she saw another figure enter the water.

—

Don followed his brothers into the water with a splash. Bubbles surrounded him and he swam to the surface.

"Does anyone see Rayn?" Leo asked, searching the surface.

"Wait." Don interrupted, realization hitting him with a jolt. "Rayn.. I don't think she can swim!"

With that, he disappeared under the water.

Soon after the splashes of his brothers were heard as they followed him underneath the surface.

The water wasn't as clear as it could be, so searching was difficult, but eventually Donatello spotted the unmoving form of Rayn, her hair flowing around her.

The turtle grabbed her gently and pulled her to the surface, motioning to his brothers to follow.

Together, they pulled the girl onto the shore.

"Is she—?" Mikey asked Don.

"No, I think she's just unconscious." Don, checking her vitals, replied.

"Ugh." Rayn groaned as she started to come around.

"Hey, you okay, Rayn?" Don gently asked her.

"I.. Hate water." She whispered, sitting up and coughing.

"Come on, let's go." Leo and Mikey helped her up, and together they all hurried back to the Battle Shell.

—

Rayn sat on the turtle's couch, drying her hair with a towel. She felt the past day's events wear down on her, and her thoughts became a swirling whirlpool.

What was she supposed to do now? She couldn't go back to her apartment. She had no place to go, she was a.. Monster now. And what of Wylan? If he's been.. Evil all this time, then would she have been secretly contributing to his work?

Where was she supposed to stay? She couldn't go home. The turtles.. She was still a stranger to them. For all she knew, they'd kick her out in a few days time.

If she could get her things from her apartment, then she could go and try to find somewhere else to live.

"Hey." A voice said from behind her. Rayn turned, expecting Don, Leo, or even Mikey. But she found Raphael instead, the hothead's voice low. "You, uh, doin' okay?"

"Yeah." Rayn was surprised by the turtle's act of kindness, checking up on her. She felt Raph had a secret gentle side he hid from his brothers. "I really just want to punch Wylan in the face again."

"I don't blame ya." Raph came and sat by her. "It must suck to lose your home and job like that. Our friend April had something similar happen to her, maybe she can help ya out."

Before Rayn could say anything, Don approached, holding her robot omni in his hands. "I grabbed this before we left the other day." The genius explained. "Thought you'd want it."

Rayn took the robot gently and turned it over in her hands. "Thanks."

"Hey, Rayn!" Leo and Mikey came from the direction of Splinter's room. "Leo talked to Master Splinter, you can stay with us for a while." Mikey exclaimed, jumping over the couch to stand next to her.

She looked at her new friends, and finally felt like, just maybe, things would be alright. "Thanks, guys." She whispered.

—

Rayn was sitting on the ledge of the upstairs area of the turtle's lair, legs dangling, doodling absently on a notebook page.

Below her, Leo was practice sparring with Raph, the sound of metal clashing rising towards her.

Mikey was sitting on the couch watching their large televisions, and Don was somewhere in his lab, probably working up some new creation.

It had been a few days since the battle at Wylan's, and Rayn had managed to sneak a few of her things from her old room at their apartment. She also installed a lock on the door of her room and bolted it shut, just in case Wylan tried to get a hold of any of her things.

She had installed a hidden camera, with the intentions of keeping an eye on Wylan. As much as she hated his guts, he had still became like family to her.

Rayn quietly set down her notebook and stood up, heading towards the ladder that led to the lower floor. Despite everything that happened, everything that changed, she still was a huge coffee addict. And it turns out the turtles had a working coffee maker, which was cool.

"Yo, Rayn." Mikey called out towards her as he headed over. "Something's been bugging me recently."

"Hmm?" She looked at the turtle as she poured her cup of coffee.

"You had superhero figurines back at that guy's place, right?"

"Yeah.." She replied.

"Well.. That means you're a comic fan." Mikey held up a copy of one of the Justice Force's comicbooks. "I have a whole collection, wanna see?"

Rayn's tail twitched behind her absently as she took the comic. "Is this issue 16?" She asked, paging through it. "That's really cool, Mikey."

The orange clad turtle beamed, and the two started to casually talk about comics.

Sipping her coffee, Rayn figured she'd fit in just find with these four brothers. She hoped, anyway.

—

It was night - well, night in the turtle's world anyway - and all of them had gone to bed.

Rayn, having claimed the couch as her bed, tossed and turned in her blankets.

Something was bothering her, and she wasn't sure what.

The whole situation with Wylan.. If her technology had gotten into the wrong hands, what would have happened?

But what other dangerous things could Wylan be working on, with the help of his new.. Partners?

Partners, who had changed her into what she was now. There'd always be that looming fear over her that Wylan would invent something that would jeopardizes them all. And what of this.. Hun character? What could he be coming up with?

She sat up, holding her phone out and using it as a flashlight in the dim lair. She couldn't sleep, she knew that. So she had to go and do something.

Rayn hopped over the couch and headed towards Don's lab.

If she was going to stand her own against Wylan's forces, she had to have a way to defend herself. She didn't know ninjistu like the guys, but she did have her robot.

—

When Don woke up and headed towards the kitchen area for coffee, he realized the light for his lab was on.

"Mikey, there's nothing in there for you." The genius called out, going into the room.

But he didn't see his annoying sibling; instead, he saw Rayn, sitting on a chair at his workstation.

"Hey, Don." She greeted him, looking up. "I hope you don't mind me using your space. I didn't touch any of your equipment, I just needed a table."

"Oh, don't worry. At least you're not Mikey." Don came over and peered over her shoulder. "Whatcha working on?"

"I'm upgrading my robot." She replied, screwing a part into place. "Well, finishing it anyway."

Rayn's hair fell over her face as she reached over and grabbed something off the desk. It was small and had a tiny rectangular screen, almost like a watch except not displaying the time.

"If anyone besides me or anyone I've allowed access tries to take apart, modify, or control any of my robots, they'll be denied because they weren't wearing this band." She explained, pulling her hair back into place behind her shoulders absently. "It's hooked up to your own personal aura, using some of the things I was studying over the past few years."

"Aura?" The purple-banded turtle asked her curiously.

"The energy field around any type of living being, basically. Each person or thing has their own unique aura, and if done right it can be detected for advanced security protection. You can't even attempt to replicate or clone a person's aura since it's so unique to them." She explained.

"Sounds kinda like what Master Splinter talks about chi." Before they could talk anymore, Mikey and Leo entered the room.

"Hey, there was a party and nobody invited me? No fair!" Mikey called out, hopping over the bench and landing in between Don and Rayn.

The girl yelped and nearly dropped her robot. "Dude!" She swatted at Mikey with a hand and set her robot gently on the table, while Don hit him on the head.

"Ow!" Mikey yelped, and looked at the table with the robot. "Wait, that's your robot thingy isn't it? You should let me try it!" The curious turtle reached to grab the robot before she could stop him.

"Mikey, wait—" Rayn called out, trying to snatch it away from him.

But Mikey yelped as he touched the robot as they heard a crackle come from it. "Ow!"

"It shocks you unless I give you access and you're wearing one of these." She explained, pointing to her band. "You can test one of the other prototypes once I get far enough to create more, for now I'm sticking with this one."

"Come on Mikey," Leo put a hand on the youngest turtle's shoulder. "We can go make breakfast and let them work."

Rayn pushed the robot gently over so it wasn't on the edge of the table and paused, looking at them. "I'm finished for now, actually." She walked towards the door, with Don following. "Breakfast seems good to me for now. Hey, Mikey, you still gotta show me the rest of your comic books!"

At the mention of his comics, the turtle beamed and raced back towards her, falling into step. "Oh yeah, you've got to see these! I have the rarest copy of Justice Force issue 19 because it was—"

Don and Leo exchanged glances as the two went towards the kitchen, Don pausing as if to ask his brother something.

"Hey, Leo, do you think this Wylan guy is a threat?" Don asked in a low voice so neither in the kitchen could hear.

"I don't know. He seems to have a lot of surprises going on.. I think we need to keep an eye on this guy." The eldest turtle frowned. It wouldn't be good at all if they somehow managed to get this guy's technology to the Shredder, because from what they've seen this Wylan guy might be as good as Stockman. Well, Rayn might. Wylan hasn't really done anything yet.

Either way, they needed to keep an eye on him. Having Rayn living here, if only temporarily, would be good so she couldn't get into any trouble. Despite her good intentions, she was still an outsider here - and they had to be careful around her as well.

Just in case.


	9. Dreams

_Before I share the chapter, I just want to see if anyone reading this would be interested in an idea I had._

 _So I was thinking of also posting the story to wattpad, but aside from that, I was thinking of illustrating certain scenes to help with visualizing. I think it'd add a creative element to the overall story - they'd be drawn in a style either of my own or similar to the 2003 turtles. Thoughts on this? Let me know!_

Rayn frowned. In front of her was a floating island, with two giant floating rocks on the left side like a kind of pillar-course laid out for one to jump across.

The island itself was simple, with grass and vines hanging down the side like it was old. But a floating island just doesn't appear next to a cliff.

On the structure itself was a large.. Door. It was floating a few inches off the ground and had a kinda eerie glow around it. The flickering light was bright enough for even her to see, and it was a gradient of green to blue - almost cyan.

Rayn took a step across the landscape towards the island, walking across until she got to the rock. The rocks were too big for her to jump across alone. She just simply couldn't make it across to explore.

But even if she were thinking that, she found herself still attempting to leap across - but she landed on the edge of the first rock with a jolt throughout her whole body and clung for her life.

She found her hands growing slippery and started to call out in a scared, almost unnatural voice - "Help!"

In the distance, she turned her head and saw Donatello running towards her, followed closely by his brothers - but even with all her strength, she could not hang out anymore.

And then she felt herself falling.

Rayn woke up in a panic, the falling sensation still ringing through her body. She felt as if she had just fallen back onto the couch, but that wasn't even possible.

She sat up, stretching and throwing the blankets into a messy heap towards the edge of the couch.

With her sensitive hearing, the redhead could hear low voices coming from the other side of the huge room - but they stopped when they heard her get up.

Rayn brushed it off and headed towards the lair's bathrooms to shower and get dressed.

Of her previous wardrobe, she managed to scavenge a few of her favorite pieces of clothing. Rayn used her phone to play music softly as she showered and then dressed, throwing on a pair of dark jeans and a blue cold-shoulder top which she loved.

The redhead stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself as she started to brush her hair.

The girl who stared back wasn't the same as she was two weeks ago. In fact, she had been noticing subtle changes to her appearance which took her by surprise. She thought the chemicals that ugly Hun guy put in her had finished long ago, but apparently not.

Her wavy red hair had noticeable darkening towards the tips, like the same color as her ears, and she noticed her fingernails had gradually changed to become more like claws. Her nose was more pronounced and protruded more, becoming snout-like. But at least she didn't have fur, the girl thought to herself. But after a while, wearing a hat to cover her ears wouldn't cut it anymore.

"Hey, Rayn." A voice said from behind her, which made her jump and turn around reflexively.

Mikey stood at the entrance to the bathroom, looking at her. He held a cup of coffee out to her. "Wanna play some games?"

"Sure." She replied absently. Her thoughts were still jumbled, but playing with Mikey would be able to help. Hopefully.

The excited orange clad turtle squealed in delight and raced over to the couch, followed by a slower Rayn.

"Oh great, another Mikey." Raph commented as he came out of his room, hearing the excited babble of the youngest turtle echo through the large lair, followed by Rayn's quiet voice.

"Nah, not really." Don peeked out of his room. "She's got some more brains than our bro."

The hothead huffed and leaped down to the first floor, followed by Don. Leo was nowhere to be found - probably meditating or something.

She and Mikey had managed to get towards the boss level of the game they were playing. She forgot the title, but Mikey had explained many times it was his favorite and so she tried her best to keep up with his avatar.

Her eyes were weary because she hadn't gotten up to get another cup of coffee, and she felt herself start to zone out unintentionally. She still played the game and replied to Mikey's chatter, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

Something about that dream she had was bugging her. She didn't know what, but it served some kinda special meaning to her. That, and her constant worry about Wylan. What was he planning? Were they going to try to kidnap her again? Was she putting her friends in danger?

Suddenly, she felt a sharp jolt of pain in the back of her head, like someone had hit her there. She felt herself drop her controller, but her vision grew fuzzy and she had no idea what else happened. Distant shouts hit her ears, but her mind couldn't make them out.

What was wrong with her?

She didn't know how long she was in that state until she felt her shoulders being shaken, and slowly the fog lifted.

"Rayn?" Mikey's masked face filled her vision. Rayn was on the floor, with her friends surrounding her. The fallen controller was next to her.

Rayn winced, rubbing the back of her head.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Don asked her, as he and Mikey helped her up.

"I—" Keeping a hand on the back of her head, she let them help her to the couch. "I don't know."

Leo, who had joined the group but was unnoticed by Rayn, exchanged a glance with Don.

"Can I take you to the lab? Maybe we can figure out what's wrong." Don asked Rayn, who nodded.

Don helped Rayn get up again, but she was able to walk on her own now as the pain started to fade.

The youngest turtle followed, as the game in the background showed their avatars paused in front of a large door, weapons in hands as they prepared for the battle.

* * *

"Stockman." Hun entered the lab, his large bulk heading straight towards the table Doctor Baxter Stockman sat at. "Did the test work?"

"No." Stockman replied, typing away at a computer. "The girl isn't responding, she's resisting."

"How?" The giant slapped Stockman's keyboard away from the desk, making the man stand up and his chair swivel across the floor.

"Hey! I just got that!"

"Stockman, you said that would work. Why didn't it? The girl needs to be under our control." Hun growled.

"It's just a minor setback." The genius readjusted his glasses, walking back towards his computer. "She can't resist for much more."

"You better be right, Stockman," Hun stamped on Stockman's keyboard as he headed for the door, destroying it. "Or you'll see what else the Shredder has in store for you."


	10. Reality

I haven't quite decided when in the series this story takes place- somewhere in the first season, after they originally meet Shredder/Hun/Stockman, but before the Battle Shell is destroyed.

Rayn was laying on a cot in Don's lab. It was night, and everyone else was asleep except for her and Don. She had told him about her dream - only him - and he wanted to see if she had it again.

Because in the world of ninjas and stuff, apparently having cryptic dreams twice was bad.

So now she laid and tried to go to sleep while she listened to Don working on something towards the back of the lab.

This was stupid, she thought to herself. But she wanted to make sure everything was okay, especially after she had zoned out while just playing games with Mikey.

All the tests she and Don had thought to do just showed normal results. So what was wrong with her?

Did that guy Hun do more to her than she realized, with the mutating and all that?

She was never going to be able to sleep like this.

Rayn carefully got up and walked across the lab towards Don's work station, her boots making almost no sound.

So that's why Don slightly jumped when he saw her enter his vision. "Rayn, maybe leave the stealth to the ninjas?"

"Sorry." She held up her hands in a gesture of surrender. "Whatcha working on anyway?"

"Just upgrading the Battle Shell." The turtle replied as he tinkered with a small remote. "Adding remote capabilities and—"

"What kind of features does it already have anyway?" Rayn interrupted him, then gave him a apologetic half-smile. "Sorry."

"Hmm." Don looked at the clock, as the real night slowly crept upon them. "I don't think you've ever seen all of it. Last time you were in it, we were going to that Wylan guy's place.. Want to go for a ride?"

"Sure." Rayn reached for her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. "Just let me change first, then we can go." With that, she disappeared out the door towards the bathroom area.

Don picked up the remote he was working on and followed her out.

"Yo Don." Mikey ran up to him as soon as he exited his lab. "You going topside?"

"Not without me he ain't." Raph interrupted before the genius could respond, leaping down from the upper floors.

"Okay, guys, I have some new things I want to try out anyway." Don reached for his bag of supplies. "We just have to wait for Rayn and we can go."

"Guess that makes four." Leo came from the kitchen, leaping over towards them. "Er, five."

"Oh, fearless leader is coming too?" Raph commented, shoving his brother jokingly.

"Someone has to keep you guys out of trouble." The leader answered. "Besides, I could use the exercise."

Rayn appeared from the bathroom before anyone else could comment. She had on her usual denim jacket, belt, and dark pants - which were tucked into her favorite boots.

She had tied back her hair into a half-updo type style and sported the Metts hat she had retrieved from her office, worn backwards.

"Come on." Her tail flicked behind her as she walked up to the four turtles.

"Okay, well, the Battle Shell is this way." Don told Rayn, but already his brothers had started to run towards the elevator.

"Last one up came from a rotten egg!" Mikey called out.

Don shook his head as he and Rayn started to run towards the elevator, making it just in time before the doors shut on them.

After a quick spin in the Battle Shell, the five of them had decided to go for a rooftop run - even if Rayn was a little reluctant. She was still worried about her dazing off with Mikey, but right now she felt fine.

It was well after midnight, and she was wide awake. Especially since Don had explained a lot of the Battle Shell's inner workings to her, much to the dismay and boredom of his brothers.

She was following the turtles as they climbed up a fire escape to the rooftop of some building, pulling herself up onto the roof.

And then they were sprinting across the rooftops, leaping and calling out as they ran. Despite her lack of ninjitsu skills, Rayn was managing to keep up with the guys just fine.

"Haha, Mikey!" She called out as she passed the orange clad turtle, looking over her shoulder. "Who's the slow turtle now?"

"Hey!" The youngest followed her in hot pursuit as she leaped across another rooftop, landing in a crouch and sticking her tongue out at him. But before she could stand up again, she felt the same sharp pain in the back of her head and let out a sharp yelp.

Her vision blurred and she heard her friends call her name.

Rayn Summers. She heard her name echo in her head as if some unknown entity was calling out to her.

What the heck?

This time, the vision was more intense and she felt herself enter a trance like state as a new image filled her mind.

She was in front of that strange floating island from her dream, standing on a cliff and looking out towards that weird door.

Only this time, in front of her was Wylan. What was he doing there?

"Get out of my head, you jerk." She growled, swinging a sharp fist towards his head. She saw her previous friend disappear before her eyes as she stumbled around from hitting air.

She heard his laughing from behind her and turned around sharply to try to grab him, but instead she reached for air.

Growling slightly, Rayn heard his laughing yet again and this time reached out with a fist without turning around and felt it make contact with a soft thud. She turned and jumped on him, satisfied she finally got him. Only it was no longer Wylan, rather a new shape, but before she could look closer she felt her mind jerked out of this.. Dream and into reality.

She was on the ground and her friends were surrounding her, all with worried expressions. Donatello was kneeling in front of her, so he was the one she saw first when her vision started to return.

"Rayn?" The turtle whispered.

She blinked and rubbed the back of her head again, wincing. "W-what happened?" she stammered.

Don exchanged an uneasy glance with Leo, while even Mikey remained silent.

Rayn looked at her friends, feeling fear enter the pit of her stomach.

What the heck was happening to her?

"Guys, please." She closed her eyes and looked at her friends. "I'm fine now."

"Rayn." Donatello answered softly. "Your eyes.. They turned red. We didn't know what to do or if you were okay.."

Rayn just looked at her friends in shocked silence.


	11. Prepare

Happy April Fools/Easter!

Enjoy the story~!

If you can't already tell, this story is sort of Don-centric. He and Rayn become friends because of their shared geek-ness, though she also becomes friends with Mikey too.

Eventually, I'll try to write more Leo/Raph scenes too, if anyone would like them.

"This is ridiculous." Rayn complained, sitting on a stool in Don's lab.

The genius had confined her to never leave his sight, now that her strange behavior had happened again.

"We have to figure out what's happening to you." Don replied, looking up again from his computer.

"I know, but I want to help too."

"There isn't much you can do, Rayn." He slid his chair across the floor towards her, coming to a stop at a different station. "We have to see if it happens again, and figure out what's causing it."

Rayn frowned, looking down at her notebook. She had written everything she could remember about her experiences and behavior, from the dreams to the weird vision she had on the rooftop. Included was even a sketch of the doorway she had seen from some charcoal she had scavenged from her things.

Vividly, Rayn recalled the day on the rooftop and fumbled over her thoughts yet again.

Rayn had stared at Donatello for a few minutes in silence as what he said sunk in.

Your eyes.. They turned red.

Finally, Don had broken the silence yet again.

"And then you started glowing blue." He added as if there was no pause.

"It was freaky but kinda cool." Mikey chimed in eagerly, earning a hit on the back of the head by Raph. "OW! How did you do that, anyway?"

"I have no idea." She whispered.

"Come on, let's go home. It's best we have you stay low for a while before another one of those attacks happens." Leo input, his leadership skills kicking in.

The four turtles jumped down in leaping motions from the rooftop, while Rayn carefully went down the fire escape. Raph, who had remained quiet throughout, lifted the lid of the sewer and was the first down. Mikey followed with a whoop, while Leo paused to let her go ahead. She did, and trailed behind the four as they headed back to the lair.

"Rayn?" Don's voice interrupted her thoughts, as she looked up from her notebook. She had zoned out and the genius was in front of her, looking concerned.

"Just thinking." She replied, fiddling with her pencil. The turtle studied her notebook and noticed her charcoal doodle of the doorway.

"Is that the place from your vision?" He asked, reaching over and turning the page towards himself so he could see.

"Yeah."

"You made it really detailed, but I haven't got a clue where that is." Skimming the rest of the page, Don looked back up at her.

As he turned the notebook back towards her, a piece of paper slid out between the pages.

It looked like an innocent doodle, but considering Rayn was also a geek like Don, he knew it probably was something more. "Hey, what's this?"

Rayn, quietly watching him, blushed slightly and picked it up. "It's just.. Something I wanted to work on." She handed it towards him. "You and the guys have your ninjitsu skills. And since there's people out there who probably want to capture me or worse, I figured I need to have some way to defend myself. So.. I had this idea."

The sketch itself was of her, complete with cat ears and tail, wearing a suit that looked like armor and holding a skateboard-type object. The image was rendered in black and white, but she had on what looked like a jump suit. She wore a belt around her waist and knee-high dark boots. Covering her head was a helmet, with a visor going over her eyes. On the helmet, it was designed to have bits come up to sort of resemble cat ears.

Her robot was on the ground next to her in the image, floating near her feet.

"That's really cool. Did you want some help?" Don handed her back the paper.

"Sure, if you want." She stuck it back within the pages of her notebook.

"WAAITT!" A voice from behind them made both of them jump. "RAYNN! Are you becoming a superhero?!"

Rayn turned and saw Mikey, having apparently witnessed the whole thing, behind them. "Mikey, I thought I told you not to sneak up on me." She scowled him, but not unkindly.

"Sorry! But I heard you guys talking and it sounds so cool! Rayn, did I tell you about the Turtle Titan yet?"

"Oh brother." Don shook his head, pushing his sibling out of the way. "Mikey, I thought I told you not to enter my lab while we were trying to figure out what was wrong with Rayn."

"You did," The orange-clad turtle admitted. "But dude, your sensor things are going off in the lab!"

"What?" Don exchanged a glance with Rayn before rushing out of the room.

Mikey scratched his head and looked at Rayn. "Was it something I said?"

"No, Mikey, you should have came in sooner." She said, frowning. She grabbed her notebook and started to head out of the lab, with the youngest turtle following behind her.

Don was at his computer, near their entertainment system, looking at a screen. "Check it out." He told the group, as Raph and Leo had already joined them.

On the screen, heading down one of the sewer tunnels, were Stockman's mousers.

"Wait, I thought we destroyed his lab a long time ago?" Raph commented. "That joint blew up!"

"I guess he must have remade them." The eldest turtle said thoughtfully. "But why?"

"Probably looking for her." Raph jabbed a finger in Rayn's direction. She flushed and looked at her hands clutching the notebook.

"Well, they aren't finding her." Mikey stated, twirling his nunchucks and striking a protective stance. "Right, Rayn? You just gotta stay inside for a while."

"I guess." Rayn replied half-heartedly. She walked towards the couch and sat down, opening her notebook again, leafing through it's pages.

The four turtles talked a little longer as they watched the mousers wander aimlessly through the sewers on the different cameras Don had installed, but then eventually parted ways.

Rayn had just resigned to staying on the couch, legs drawn up to her chest with her hands resting on them. She had her notebook on her legs, staring at its pages and pondering her situation.

Ever since her mutation, her life was never normal. And now she was dragging her rescuers into it, because she was now being hunted for in the sewers.

"Have you ever tried meditation?" A voice said from beside her. Rayn felt herself jump and winced. Ninjas and their sneaking around.

"Um, no." She collected herself and managed to get out, looking up at the turtle. It was Leo, of course. She didn't think any of his brothers cared much for meditation.

"It'll help you sort out your thoughts." The turtle said wisely, reaching out a hand to help her up. She looked at him quizzically. "I was watching you sit and stare at your notebook for the past 10 minutes from the kitchen while my food cooked." He offered an explanation. "Figured you'd need some help before you stared a hole into it."

"Oh." She said simply, accepting his hand and holding the notebook with the other one.

She followed Leo to the center of the lair, where he sat down. She hesitated, then seated herself, carefully crossing her legs into the lotus position like the turtle in front of her. She adjusted her position so she wasn't sitting on her tail, and then looked at Leo to indicate she was ready.

"Okay." The turtle said. "So just take a second to clear your mind, and try to establish a mind-body connection.."

Mikey and Don had left the lair to investigate some of the mousers they had spotted on the screen earlier, and hopefully see where they led. Though he didn't like leaving his brothers behind, the purple-clad turtle figured they would be back shortly. Mikey had bugged him to come along, and eventually Don had given in just to get him to be quiet. But just to make his younger brother useful, Don had him carry his equipment bag. It wasn't really all necessary, but Mikey didn't need to know that.

"Okay, be quiet Mikey." Don shushed his sibling as they rounded a corner. "The mousers should be around here somewhere."

The two hid in the shadows of the sewers, waiting for any indication of movement in the darkness. Then they heard it - the familiar clanking noises of the mouses, as well as the weird cries.

"Okay, just leave one intact so I can take it back to my lab." Don whispered to Mikey, and they both converged on the mousers.

Soon, a pile of mouser bits was left in the trickling sewer water and one remained in the hands of Donatello.

"Gee, I hope that mouser doesn't mind being donated to science." Mikey quipped. "Or, more like, my brother Donatello."

"Come on, goofball." Don told his brother and together they headed back to the lair.

"Wait, if all we were doing was mouser-napping then why did I have to carry this heavy bag?" Mikey complained as Don laughed to himself.

I might go back and revise some of these chapters to add titles and stuff. Any thoughts on that? Thanks for reading!


	12. Pancakes and Visions

_Okay, cue responding to review._

 _Procyon's Tears: Haha, I tried to time it just right so they could meet up in an interesting way. And I dunno, maybe her balance will improve. That's something I hadn't really considered, but will def from now on. As for the other comments, thank you! Your feedback is appreciated and inspired me to keep writing!_

* * *

Leo was right. Meditating did help.

Rayn had started doing it daily, in addition to helping Don in the lab and playing games with Mikey. Leo had quietly become a meditation partner to her, but she partially suspected he was just keeping an eye on her.

In fact, they all seemed to. Since her episode on the rooftop, they all had kept a watchful eye over her.

Even the rat, Master Splinter. She had started coming across him more in her daily life as they kept meeting at nearly the same time in the kitchen to make indivisual prefernces of drinks. Rayn would always let the older rat go first and prepare his tea, to which he seemed grateful.

In fact, as time passed, Rayn had started to get up a little bit earlier and boil some water for him. It was a small gesture she didn't mind doing at all, in exchange for him allowing her to stay with them.

And she had also consulted with Master Splinter about her dreams and their connection to the weird behaviors she was experiencing. The rat had told her he'd meditate on it, and to come to him or his sons with any other dreams she may have so they could help.

Rayn stretched and sat up from the couch. She had been laying quietly pondering her thoughts, but decided to get up finally and accept she wasn't going to sleep anymore.

Putting on some slippers she had scavenged from her apartment, Rayn walked quietly to the kitchen. Her tail swished behind her absently. Even that was something she had grown used to.

Rayn started pulling out various kitchen materials to start to make breakfast. For the past week, she had taken it upon herself to make breakfast for everyone. Scrambled eggs, toast, and pancakes. Even Raph had commented about the pancakes, teasing his youngest brother always burnt them.

With her mutation, she also gained better abilities to see in the dark, so she didn't bother turning on a light. It was one of those weird things she came across about her mutation.

By the time the eldest turtle arose, usually the first up, the smell of pancakes had started to drift through to the upper rooms of the lair. Soon the rest of the family would be up and digging into the breakfast.

"Want a hand?" Leo asked Rayn as she flipped the last pancake onto the top of the tower.

"Sure. You can take the—"She paused as she noticed the ninja had taken all three plates and carefully placed them on the table with extreme grace.

"Well, okay." Rayn laughed lightly and carried the plates and glasses, while Leo opened the fridge to fish out orange juice.

"I smell fooood!" A voice came from the top level as Mikey jumped down and raced towards the table, grabbing a plate and heaving it with pancakes.

"Hey, I made enough for everyone to share." Rayn snatched a thin stack of pancakes off the stack, adding it back to the original pile.

Mikey went to protest, but just then Don exited his lab, racing over to grab his own plate before it was all gone. "Yeah, Mikey, you heard the nice lady." Don teased his brother, stealing a pancake off Mikey's plate.

"Hey, no fair!" Mikey complained. "Now I only have four!"

"Relax, I'll make some more." Rayn smiled and went back to the kitchen to prepare more batter. She also started to boil water for Master Splinter's tea, as per habit.

Soon, even Raphael emerged from his quarters and joined his brothers at the table. As they dug in, Mikey drowning his pancakes in syrup and creating a huge mess to the annoyance of his brothers, Rayn started to zone out of their conversation.

This was the happiest she had been in a while, even before her mutation. She felt hopeful that maybe, once they figured out how to fix whatever kept happening to her, she'd live a normal live. Well, as normal as a mutated cat-girl could have.

She brought the last plate of pancakes to the table and settled for leaning against the counter as she ate her own food. Her thoughts settled back on her daydreams about the project she and Don were working on. She had designed some blueprints and collected different shirts she could bring together for her "costume", while Mikey had blabbed to her about superhero team-ups and she could join the Justice Force. After they figured out why she kept having visions, of course.

Rayn stared into her eggs, frowning. If only it was that simple.

She kept thinking of that dream she had, and wondered what would happen if she actually entered the doorway.

Despite the whole ominous feel, she didn't get a bad vibe from the dream itself. It seemed almost purposeful, as if the dream was trying to tell her something.

And as her thoughts drifted further, she found herself completely zoning out and leaving the lair and entering the scene from the dream. As if by just thinking about it triggered this reaction.

Rayn looked around. She hadn't experienced any pain this time, so it wasn't one of her attacks. Maybe it was a result of her meditation, and the whole mind-body stuff Leo talked about, but she found herself in her vision.

The girl took a hesitant step forward, walking towards the edge of the cliff. She swallowed and looked over towards the dark pit before her. If she fell in this trance-like state, would that affect her in the real world?

It didn't matter to her at the moment. All she could think about was that stupid door, so she forced herself to continue on.

Rayn took a running leap towards the first rock, using her momentum to propel herself onto it. As she landed, she felt the landscape around her shift. She blinked and the colors around her seemed more vivid, as if a light had been turned on.

Moving quickly, Rayn once again leaped to the next rock. She crouched on her feet and observed the scenery shift again keenly.

Taking a deep breath, Rayn took another running jump towards the final rock and came fast-to-face with the door.

This was it. She was finally going to see what was behind it, Rayn thought to herself.

Then, with a flick of her tail, she put both hands against the door. It was made of heavy wood, she realized, which was dark in color. But the color seemed to shift and swirl, causing her to almost get lost within its depths.

She braced herself for whatever awaited her and shoved all her strength against the door.

 _What do you think is behind this..door? Let me know!_


	13. Truths

Procyon's Tears: thank you for your kind words (: they really do mean a lot!

Where would writing be without cliff hangers? haha ;)

Malkah5967: Nice theory, we shall see~

* * *

Rayn gasped, dropping her fork onto the ground with a clang as she was jerked back into her own body.

The four brothers turned towards her instantly, each with his own comment asking if she was okay or what happened.

Rayn, briefly disorientated, didn't reply. She glanced at her hands and noticed a strange glow outlining them before it quickly faded away.

"Rayn?" Mikey's voice reached her as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yoo-whoo, earth to Rayn."

"Sorry." She answered quickly before they grew more concerned. "It's just.. The vision came back."

She saw her friends exchange glances and turn in her direction, as if waiting for an explanation.

Rayn started telling them about her vision, tail twitching nervously behind her. As she came across to the ending of her reaching the door and opening it, unknown to her, that same light blue glow sparked to life and illuminated around her form.

"Hey, Rayn?" Mikey interrupted, staring at her now glowing hands. "Does that normally happen?"

Rayn blinked and looked at her hands, flexing them and turning them every which way.

"Don?" Leo looked at his brother for answers, who just looked perplexed.

"Maybe her mutation gave her superpowers or something!" Mikey intervened before Donnie could comment.

"That's not a bad theory, actually." Abandoning his breakfast, the purple-clad turtle leapt up and headed towards his lab, pulling a startled Rayn along with him as he passed.

The rest of the group exchanged glances before following, Mikey grabbing his plate along for the ride.

"Ya both got more smarts than Mikey here, can't ya figure out what's going on?" Raph commented as he leaned against the doorway.

Don and Rayn sat at the table with her notebook in front of them, talking quietly together. The rest of the turtles stood in a loose half circle, with Mikey's loud munching breaking the silence.

"So my theory is that, as a result of you studying the way the world interacts with your body's natural atmospheric emanation. And when you were mutated, the changes to your chemical makeup amplified the things you've already learned to produce, well, what happened before." Don exclaimed excitedly, as Rayn nodded in silent agreement.

"Um. Can we have a geek translator in aisle one?" Mikey interrupted, listening intently but with a puzzled look on his face.

"Basically." Rayn picked up her robot from where it sat on the lab table, turning towards Mikey. "This robot only operates for people who's aura is in sync with it. So, it's currently hooked up to mine. Through what I studied to figure out how to do that, and what I learned by doing so, I came to a better understanding of how auras and stuff with your body's natural energy works. As a result, I guess I'm able to control mine better than the average person. And when I was mutated, that ability was magnified—"

"SO YOU DO HAVE SUPERPOWERS!" Mikey ran over to her and Don, studying her in awe. "Does that mean we have to come up with a superhero identity for you? And an origin story!? Ooh, Rayn, can I help?"

"Hmm, wait." Don looked up thoughtfully before Rayn could comment. "That gives me an idea about the source of those attacks you've been having."

"They've been using my research!" Rayn suddenly realized, following along. "To use some kind of force, or magic or whatever, to try to hurt me." She stood up angrily, knocking her stool back. "Wylan.. I told him everything."

She glanced around at her friends briefly. Leo, who was listening wordlessly. Raph, who looked ready to bash Wylan's head in. Mikey, still excited about superhero-Rayn. And Don, who looked exactly how she felt.

She was about to declare war, storm out, and go after them and whatever machine they managed to create when Leo raised a hand.

"If we go after them, we need a plan." The leader stated, answering the thoughts of everyone.

"Isn't going after them and those foot creeps enough of a plan?" Raph growled, twirling his sais.

"No, because they could use whatever they're doing against Rayn."

"Then what do we do?" Don asked.

"We have to surprise them." Leo came closer to the table with the notebook, picking it up. "If we catch them off guard, then we can take whatever it is down before it can hurt anyone else."

Rayn frowned - she wasn't good at the whole ninja-stealth thing. But she listened to Leo outline his plan, and felt a flicker of hope - maybe she'd be able to stop them doing more harm to her or anyone else for a long time. For good.

* * *

 _I just want to point out it took me forever to figure out how to write Don's nerdy moment without it being too easy to understand / try to be as accurate to what he'd say as possible. Yikes, I'm bad at writing "scientifically" eh?_

 _Anyways, this took me a while to write because I wasn't happy with how it was turning out. And I got busy with work, and I just wanted to sit down and write — so I finally did, and got it to work._

 _Let me know your thoughts and as always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!_


	14. Casey and April

_Note: Based on this point in the story, it has to take place sometime before April's shop gets burned down (sorry if this is a spoiler). I still haven't worked out exactly when, but I just want to throw this note here._

Standing in front of the door, Rayn was starting to think this plan kinda sucked. Looking towards the shadows, she saw an encouraging nod from Leo, and raised her hand to knock on the door.

A young woman answered, with red hair and pale skin. She wore a purple crop top with cargo pants, her hair up in a ponytail-type updo thing.

"Oh, hi, you must be Rayn." The woman said, pulling open the door further upon inspecting Rayn for a second. "I'm April, Don's told me about you."

Rayn blinked. "He has?"

The turtles chose that moment to come out of the shadows, a flustered Don being the leader.

"Hey April."

"I haven't seen you guys in a while, I hope that means you've been keeping out of trouble." April laughed, stepping back to let everyone in. "Casey's upstairs."

Rayn, happy to get out of the dark alley, entered first. She glanced around in awe at the shop around her. April was the owner of this old antique's shop? She had gone here with Wylan a few months back, when it first opened.

Not sure where to go, Rayn waited for Mikey as he entered next, followed by Don, Leo, and Raph. Mikey bounded right for the stairs, talking to April happily as he climbed two at a time.

"OOh, April! Did you know Rayn is going to become a superhero?!" He stated excitedly as April followed him up the stairs.

Rayn shook her head, taking a final look around the room before following them up the stairs.

Her first thought was that April's apartment was a bit smaller than her old one, but it felt almost cozy. She followed Mikey's excited babbling and ended up at the apartment's couch as the turtle flopped onto it.

"Ugh, is it nap time yet? Or dinner time? I'm hungry."

"Mikey, you just had pizza." Don reminded his brother as he entered. "And breakfast this morning."

"Mmm, that was good. Rayn, you should make more pancakes! With chocolate chips.."

"Nah, what I made before was a recipe of my mom's. I'm not that good at adding things to it." She told him, taking her own seat on the couch. "Besides, I don't think you need anymore food today."

"But—"

"Hey guys!" a new voice entered the scene, coming from one of the back rooms. "We haven't seen you guys in forever!"

A large man with huge muscles and long, black hair, bounded straight towards Raph and gave him a giant bear hug. She half expected Raph to punch him or something, but instead the turtle just laughed and patted the guy on the back.

"Hey, Case." Raph greeted him, drawing back from the hug. "Missed ya too."

"So, what we doin' tonight?" The man - Casey, she guessed - asked. "Taking down some foot operation? Going on a cool top secret mission? Ooh, maybe hunting some Purple Dragons!"

"No, we're just staying in for now." Leo answered as he pulled up a chair from the dining room table.

"Wait, that's boring. Why? I wanna go hunt some dragons!" Casey pounded a fist into his hand, grinning.

"We're just waiting for now, Case. Don't worry, we brought some movies." Don held up a bag, full of different DVDs for them to watch.

"Oh, sweet! You had better brought Rio Gato, or I'll—"

Blocking them out, Rayn stood up and retreated to a corner, withdrawing her notebook from her backpack. She pulled out a pen and began to doodle as she half-listened to them argue over seating arrangements and who was making the popcorn.

When the movie finally started, Casey, Mikey, and April had claimed the couch; Leo and Raph in chairs, and Don on the floor leaning against the side of the couch near her.

Mikey was munching loudly on popcorn, while Don had started talking to April about some new invention he was working on. He eventually got to explaining the concepts behind the project he and Rayn were working on, prompting Rayn to join as well. She did, briefly, but eventually she just grew quiet.

But then Mikey suddenly asked, "Hey, Rayn, have you come up with a superhero name yet?"

When no answer came from beside him, Donatello glanced over and saw her fast asleep, head leaning against the wall and hat tilted just enough so her cat ears stuck out.

"She's sleeping." He reported, dropping his voice a little so not to disturb her.

"Aww man." Mikey whined. "I really wanted to do an origin story tonight."

"Shh, Mikey, your annoyingness is drowning out the best part!" Raphael shushed his brother, throwing a pillow in his direction. Mikey caught it and prepared to throw it back, but April had snatched it from his hands before he could.

"No pillow fights, these are new throw pillows!" She scolded him. "Don, give it to Rayn." April tossed the pillow gently towards Don, who caught it expertly.

The turtle carefully placed the pillow between the sleeping girl and the wall, somehow managing to not awaken her. Then he settled back and continued watching the movie as Mikey and Raph continued to bicker beside him.

Hopefully, the plan would be able to be put into action soon. But for now they had to wait.

 _Wonder what this plan could be.. Hmm. I guess we'll find out~_

 _In other news, I'm going to go back and actually give the chapters proper titles. If anyone has any title suggestions, let me know!_

 _The next chapter will be longer and have more action, I hope!_


	15. Plan B

When she awoke, all she felt was pain. Pain in her head, that just seemed to grow and intensify. She groaned and shut her eyes again, wincing from the light. It took a few minutes for the fog to lift and for Rayn to remember the plan, but she gradually opened her eyes.

A concerned April was in front of her, one hand towards her but a look of uncertainty clear on her features.

"Rayn? Are you okay?"

Rayn nodded, unsure if she could speak.

It was worse than her attacks before, but Don was right.

They expected and theorized that, if she went to April's, maybe the attacks would come back. Since they all seemed to happen when she was relaxed or above ground. Staying at April's for the night did trigger another one. But since she had entered that.. Door, this time, she stayed within herself and didn't blank out.

That meant she could fight it.

"Go.. Get the guys." Rayn managed to get out, opening her eyes briefly to look at April. The older woman nodded and got up again, heading toward wherever the guys were.

Rayn closed her eyes again. The plan now relied solely on her ability to fight this thing, and hopefully figure out the source.

* * *

It felt like hours that she had sat there, focusing hard on whatever was causing her pain. The plan was that she tried to identify the source through meditation, and then they'd go and find it.

But when she finally opened her eyes, she hadn't a clue where it was coming from.

"Did you learn anything?" April asked, seeing Rayn looking around.

"No, I don't think I'm able to trace it." She sighed. "All it did was give me a headache."

Before either could converse further, a triumphant Michaelangelo entered through the apartment door. "Rayn!" the turtle exclaimed. "Did it work?"

She looked at her hands. "No."

"Oh." Mikey came to sit on the couch, frowning slightly. "Don't worry, Leo usually has a plan B! When Don, Leo, and Raph get back, we can see if he has any ideas."

"Where are they, anyway?" Rayn asked. You'd think they'd stay together, but apparently not?

"Uhm." Mikey scratched his head. "I think Donnie found another one of Stockman's mousers in the sewers—"

"Guys!" Raphael chose that moment to enter, followed closely by Leo and Don. "Don found another one of those mouser robots."

"And Raph didn't actually destroy it this time." Leo pointed out, earning a look from the hothead.

"Yep, it's still receiving a signal." Don announced. "Which means, we can hook it up to the Battle Shell and track it."

"See! I told you there was a Plan B!" Mikey told Rayn, who just shrugged.

"I take it you weren't able to track them through meditation, then?" Leo asked her.

She stood up, grabbing her backpack. "No, but thankfully that mouser roamed by."

"Come on, then. Let's move forward with the plan." Leo headed for the door, followed closely by his brothers, April, Casey, and Rayn.

* * *

Everyone piled into the Battle Shell, which was way more crammed now with so many people. She sat near the back, gripping onto the side of the van as they sped across the city.

"Okay, the signal's coming from that warehouse." Don pointed towards a shady-looking warehouse on the outskirts of the street. It stood alone and looked abandoned.

Rayn peered around and spotted something else familiar. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised." She muttered, pointing towards Wylan's office building. "Not far from Wylan's place."

"Okay, stick to the plan guys." Leo told them as they pulled to a stop. "Casey and April will stay with the Battle Shell, but everyone else goes inside."

"Why do I have to be stuck here?" Casey complained, while April gave him a look.

"April needs someone to watch her back, just in case."

And with that, the four turtles had disappeared out the back. Rayn was the last, and she hesitated for a second before following the guys out of the vehicle.


	16. Old friends

Thanks for any reviews left so far, appreciated. :)

Enjoy!

"So where's the bad guys?" Mikey asked Leo, twirling his nunchucks. The two turtles were on the rooftop of a building across the street from their target. Waiting.

"We have to wait for the signal." Leo held his own katana at the ready, though not quite as antsy as Mikey.

"What's the signal again?"

Before the eldest turtle could answer, a blaring alarm sounded from the building across the street.

"That." Leo replied simply, preparing himself to jump down onto the street. "Come on!"

Mikey followed as both turtles raced towards the entrance of the building, just as a bunch of guards burst through the door.

—

Rayn watched anxiously as Raphael inserted his sai into the door lock, turning it expertly and waiting for the click. Once the reassuring sound hit her sensitive ears, she followed Don and Raph into the newly opened doorway.

"Okay, Raph, you're—" Don started, returning his bow-staff to it's spot on his back.

"Yeah, I'm guard duty. Gottit." Raph interrupted Don, who looked slightly annoyed but didn't comment.

Leaving the red-banded turtle at the door, Don and Rayn proceeded further into the room.

The room was large, with a bunch of machinery scattered throughout. It looked like a really large boiler room, mixed with a laboratory.

Lined against one wall were a bunch of lab tables, strewn with Different amounts of scientific equipment. And in the middle was a large boiler-like machine, which seemed to be powering the building.

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Rayn whispered to Don.

"I'm not too sure." He replied, much to her uneasiness.

They spread out, looking around at the different equipment scattered throughout the facility.

—

Casey climbed back into the Battle Shell next to April, after having triggered the perimeter alarm in the building that they sat across from.

"Man, I wanna be out there with them." He complained as he watched Leo and Mikey fight the goons that filed out of the building.

"Well, they're distracting the guards so Rayn and Don can find whatever they're looking for." April replied. "If you join in, too, they wouldn't be distracting them for very long."

"True." Casey cracked his knuckles, still eager to join in the fight. "Maybe they'll save some for me later."

Meanwhile, across the street, Mikey had leapt onto a parked car and was eagerly whipping his nunchucks in the direction of approaching guards, knocking them in every direction. Leo had taken a position near the entrance, using his swords to throw his opponents towards Mikey.

"Hey, I think we're doing a decent job distracting." Mikey commented, knocking another guard to the ground. "But where do these guys keep coming from? How can they even pay this many guards..?"

"There's not that many." Leo answered, herding another guard towards Mikey. "I think that was the last—" With one swoop, Mikey had the guy groaning on the ground. "One." Leo finished, lowering his weapons. "I think the distraction is over."

Mikey jumped down and hurried towards his brother, who was peering into the entrance of the building. "Now what?"

"Let's go see how far they've gotten." Leo answered, and both turtles hurried into the building.

—

"Hmm." Rayn had positioned herself near a computer desk, which was displaying a login. She adjusted her fingers on the keyboard and tried entering a password. To her surprise, the screen flickered and proceeded past the login screen. "Wylan, that bonehead. He didn't change his password? Seriously?"

Don peered over from his side of the room and started to head in that direction before noticing something in the shadows. "Hey, wait—"

Before either could respond, a surprisingly quick Wylan had appeared out of some corner of the room, grabbing Rayn and pinning her to floor. He pulled her backpack from her back, throwing it across the room in the direction of who-knows-where. She let out a scream before he covered her mouth, pulling out a knife from his belt and holding it by her neck.

"I was expecting you to be dead, actually." Wylan replied, as if in continuation of the conversation. "You're the only one I told my password to, and with you gone I thought I was fine."

Donatello had withdrawn his bo-staff and started to race across the lab, jumping narrowly over a lab desk.

"Uh-uh-uh." Wylan called out in a sarcastic manner. "Don't come to save the girl or she'll lose a significant portion of her head."

The turtle stopped, lowering his weapon but maintaining an angry look towards the man. "Let her go, y-you—evil prick!" He yelled.

"Rayn, I believe we have matters to discuss." Wylan, ignoring Don, tightened his grip on her hands as she continued to struggle. "You have something I want, and there's something I can give you in exchange. Do what I tell you, and I might let you live."

Rayn, still unable to speak, just struggled all the more and tried to kick Wylan in the face, which he managed to dodge with a smirk.

"She doesn't have what you want!" Don informed Wylan angrily, in an attempt to distract him.

"Oh, she doesn't?" Wylan turned towards the turtle, letting his gaze fall on the purple-masked ninja. "Then tell me, who does?"

Don watched as Rayn stopped struggling to look at him with a puzzled expression before he continued. "It's, uh, destroyed." He explained. "We destroyed it, it's at the bottom of the river in tiny pieces now. Rayn doesn't have what you want, so just let her go."

From behind Don, Rayn spotted a slowly approaching Raphael at the open door. He peered inside, pausing and assessing the situation, before looking at her and backing up into the hallway again.

He's probably going to get the others to help, Rayn realized. She needed to keep Wylan distracted.

Wylan uncovered her mouth and shoved her to her feet roughly, still holding the knife by her neck. "Is that true, Rayn? The robots are destroyed?"

She nodded, afraid to speak. Partially because of the knife by her neck, partially because she was a horrible liar.

"I don't believe it." He looked around, searching for her backpack. "You've gotta be lying, you'd never destroy your robots."

He was right. She wouldn't, not unless she absolutely had to. There was just too much work and technology put into those bots to destroy them forever.

A ninja star flew past Don and towards Wylan, hitting him on his shoulder. The man yelped and dropped Rayn, who rolled away towards Don.

With a flying leap, Raph, followed closely by Mikey and Leo, entered the room.

"Show's over, you're outnumbered." Raph called out, twirling his sai. "Now would be the time to surrender before you face some serious payback."

Rayn crawled towards her backpack and snatched it up protectively, glaring at Wylan.

Wylan backed away until he felt something solid against his back - with a quick glance, discovering he had his back placed against the wall.

"What do you freaks want from me?" He shouted, voice quivering slightly.

"We want to know what you're doing to give off a signal that's effecting Rayn." Raphael growled, holding a sai closer to Wylan. He flinched but looked confused.

"What are you talking about?"

Before anyone could move, there was a crash at the door that someone had shut in the scuffle and the large, overbearing body of Hun entered the room.

"Oh great, not him again." Mikey muttered.

Rayn, still on the ground, got to her feet and backed away from Hun, towards the guys.

"Ah, Rayn, I see you're well." Hun smirked. Rayn gulped.

It was going to be a long night.

 _What does Hun have in store for the group? What "present" was he talking about? When did the plan go so wrong? What do you think will happen next?_

 _Let me know what you think of this chapter, it's taken me a while to update the story._


	17. No time like the present

_Hope you guys enjoy this chapter!_

* * *

"You finally uncovered the present we gave you. I hope it's treating you well." Hun laughed.

"What 'present'?" Rayn shouted, clenching her fists. "What are you talking about?"

"My dear girl, you'll find out soon enough." Hun stepped forward and allowed a bunch of foot ninja to filter into the room, along with the menace himself: Baxter Stockman.

Rayn had no idea up until this moment what Stockman looked like. She had heard about him from the turtle's and how they rescued April, among other things, but never met him in person. Until now.

During the commotion, Wylan had managed to creep along the wall towards the entrance and now hid behind a bunch of ninja, smirking and trying to be cool like Hun.

"Get the freaks, and capture the girl." Hun ordered the group, and they dispersed towards the turtles.

"Okay, time for plan B." Leo unsheathed a sword and struck a foot goon down.

"What's plan B, Leo?" Raph growled, narrowly avoiding a swing from a foot ninja.

"We have to find a way to shut down whatever they have going on and convince Hun Rayn doesn't have what he wants."

The leader explained in a low voice. "And shut this place down."

"Okay, let me know when you need me to break somethin'." Raph commented, slicing a foot ninja's weapon out of his hand.

Rayn was in the far back of the group, trying to stay away from all the sharp weapons and flying ninja everywhere. She couldn't fight, and she didn't even have a weapon. Except, well, her robot, but that wasn't going to help her in this situation.

Well, she had her wrench. Rayn frowned, tugging off her backpack and opening the pocket. The wrench had almost saved her before, surely it was a suitable weapon. At least, until she could find something better.

Not many of the goons were making it past her friends, as they were soon sent sprawled on the ground.

"Rayn!" Mikey cried out, causing her to turn towards him. And that's why she noticed Wylan tip-toeing towards her, holding a heavy crowbar above his head, presumably to use on her.

Turning with speed she didn't know she was capable of, Rayn met the crowbar with her wrench. Wylan obviously wasn't expecting her to defend herself, as he stumbled backward from the weight of the crowbar being deflected.

"R-Rayn." Wylan stammered, almost dropping the crowbar. "I wasn't expecting you to—"

"Save your breath, Wylan, I'm not listening." Rayn growled, her tail swishing behind her. "I'm tired of your games. Tell me how to shut down whatever machine that's been messing with me, and I'll consider forgiving you." Well, Rayn added silently, I don't think I'll ever forgive you. But she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I don't know what they're doing, I didn't know they were doing something to hurt you. All I know is the experiment went wrong and you got mutated, instead of the intended effect—"

"Wait, what experiment?" She interrupted in surprise. With a quick movement of her wrist, she managed to overpower Wylan's crowbar and send it tumbling to the floor with a clang. "What do you know about this?"

"I think your little friend has said enough." Hun interrupted from behind Wylan.

Wylan made a strangled noise as he was picked up and tossed aside, much like a doll.

Well, she didn't think her wrench would do anything against Hun.

Rayn started to back up, holding her wrench up high as Hun crept closer with a smile. "You're not shutting down anything, little girl. In fact, you have unfinished business with my Master. You see, your.. Mutation was the result of an unplanned experiment, like your friend said. But some effects of the original experiment still linger and show promise, and it seems that is why you're here."

"What are you talking about?" Rayn shouted. "What effects? What did you do to me?"

Raph, fighting a foot goon near the door, hear Rayn's shout. "Guys, Hun! Rayn's in trouble!" The red-clad turtle shouted as he hit the ninja aside with a grunt.

"I think we need to take our conversation to a place more.. Private." Hun commented, holding a hand to a ear piece Rayn hadn't noticed before. "Stockman, commence to phase two."

Phase two? Rayn looked towards the door. They had to get out of ther—

Her thoughts were interrupted by an low rumbling from the ceiling and a support beam nearby, followed by the roar of the beam, and the whole building, starting to collapse towards her friends.

"Guys, watch out!" Rayn screamed.

Without thinking, she threw the wrench toward Hun with all her strength, which landed with a solid hit and sent him stumbling backwards. Then she screamed as the building collapsed around her.


	18. Capture

In the cascade of crumbling materials, Rayn thought she picked out a blur of green. She felt herself roughly pushed out of the way and landed hard on the ground. Her hands scraped on the debris and for a second her vision swam as she coughed the dust from her lungs.

Distantly she heard voices, probably on the other side of the wall, probably calling her name. But she couldn't focus on them. Maybe I hit my head hard, she thought.

"Rayn?" She heard a voice whisper near her, and she looked up. Leo stood before her, looking a little dusty but seemed unscathed. He held out a hand to her and she took it, getting to her feet unsteadily.

"What—what happened?" She asked in a shaky voice, trying to recall the events. The walls collapsing around her. The flash of green and being roughly pushed to the side.. Realization hit her hard, and she almost stumbled backwards. Leo saved her.

"The building collapsed, they must've had it rigged." Leo whispered, looking around uneasily.

"Correct, turtle." A voice sneered in the dark.

Leo tensed, and Rayn tried not to scream as Hun came towards them, brushing the dust off his shirt. Her wrench had left a mark, though; his cheek and part of his left eye were all swollen and bruised. Behind the giant came more foot ninja, standing guard by the door and surrounding them in the little space they had.

Leo drew a sword and took a fighting stance. "Keep behind me." He told Rayn, who nodded and took a step back.

"Hand over the girl." Hun demanded, flexing his muscles.

"She doesn't want to work for you, Hun. Leave her alone, you've done enough damage." Leo retorted.

"She has the secrets to that robot she created, and that robot is essential to a little project my Master wishes to complete." Hun turned to somebody in the doorway behind him. "If you do not give over the girl, I'll have Stockman here activate the rest of the explosives in the warehouse. Your brothers won't fare long."

Rayn gasped as she saw Leo visibly flinch and tense, like he was slapped.

She observed the ninja carefully. There was no way they'd be able to get out of this..

"Leo." Rayn whispered. "We have to.."

Hun smiled as Leo looked at her, conflicted. He didn't have a choice, they'd have to surrender. There was no way he'd be able to take all these guards, and Hun's threat loomed over his head.

Leo sighed, withdrawing his other sword, and dropped both to the ground at his feet.

Hun's grin widened. "I knew you'd never risk your brothers. Take them both, we can study the turtle."

Fear laced through Rayn's veins like ice, and she shivered, looking at Leo. The turtle was calm, though, if a bit uneasy. Well, he had his brothers. Letting them get away would mean they'd be able to rescue them once they figured out they were missing.

Rayn was grabbed roughly by the arm, making her scream in surprise. She couldn't help herself. She was half-carried towards the back of the warehouse, with other men forcefully tying Leo up and picking up his katana.

She had to think fast. How could she help lead them to her location, and free her and Leo?

Her robot. It was still in the wreckage. If she could get Donnie to operate it, he might be able to use it to track her. It was risky, but she'd have to rely on Donnie's ability to find it, figure out how to use it, and find them.

Acting on instinct, Rayn struggled briefly with the guards, and she elbowed one in the stomach. The guards shouted and she felt somebody slap her across the face, momentarily stunning her. If it wasn't for the other guard holding her, she would've probably fallen to the ground.

"Don't try anything, girl." Hun warned in a low voice as he pulled back his hand, and the guards held onto her once more.

But none of them noticed the bracelet that had slipped off her wrist, landing with a soft clang on the ground.

Rayn let herself be carried away and hoped that the small plan she did come up with would work.

—

Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates and the short chapter. I've had this one sitting in my head for a while, just wasn't too sure how it'd play out and which turtle would be taken with Rayn. Let me know what you think is going to happen!


	19. Trust

He wasn't sure what happened. One minute they were fighting a bunch of foot guys, Hun, and trying to find a way out of their situation. The next, he heard Rayn shout, a bunch of explosions, and suddenly the walls on half the room were coming down on them.

"Guys? Are you okay?" Mikey called out from somewhere in the aftermath.

"I'm good." Donnie replied, using his bo-staff to get himself off the ground.

"Never better." Raph called out from somewhere to Don's left.

All three waited for Leo and Rayn to call out, but emptiness fell across the room.

"Rayn? Leo?" Don shouted across the room. Still, neither answered.

Exchanging an uneasy glance with Mikey from across the room, Don started to look around for them.

Soon the other two joined him, and together they combed through the remains of the warehouse. But none of them found anything.

"Don." Raph called out softly, holding up something.

"Rayn's backpack." Don realized, recognizing the color. He easily caught the bag as Raph tossed it gently in his direction, carefully unzipping the main pocket. Rayn's robot was still intact, somehow, after the room almost fell down on it.

"Where do you think they are?" Mikey asked, worry clouding his features.

Distantly, they heard Rayn's scream, followed by more silence.

"Rayn! Leo!" Raphael yelled, racing over to where he heard the screaming, his brothers on his heels.

"They must be trapped behind this wall of debris." Don realized. The room had been divided by a large pile of debris, separating half the room.

"Is there another way around?" Mikey poked through the debris with a hand, yelping as some of it fell towards him.

"Probably, but we have to hurry. The explosions caused the structure of this place to weaken greatly, so it's likely to fall down at any moment." Donatello spotted a door to his right and pointed. "Come on, this way."

All three raced towards the door. As he exited, Raph briefly considered the lack of foot ninja in the room with them after the walls collapsed. Must've got scared off, he mused to himself.

—

Rayn and Leo were shoved roughly into the back of a unmarked van, tied to the seat, and left alone. The rest of the ninja - and Hun, probably - must have took some other means of transport, because there was no way they'd all cram into the front of this thing.

The doors were slammed shut and they were left in almost darkness. It had to have been past 4am by now, which means the sun would come up soon. Hopefully.

Absently, Rayn turned to Leo. Guilt laced her insides; she had dragged him and his family into her own mess, and she didn't want anyone to get hurt because of her.

"Leo." She whispered. "You need to find a way out."

"I know, Rayn. I don't know how I'm going to get us out." The turtle frowned, his face heavily shadowed in the van.

"No, I mean you have to get out." She looked at her hands. "Leave me, this is my fight. I don't want you to get hurt because of it."

Leo looked up at her sharply, but her face was a steel mask that he couldn't read. "Rayn, you're family now. We're not about to let anything happen to you." He said softly.

A small window opened up to show a face in the front of the van. It was apparently Hun.

How the heck did he even fit in that front seat? He was huge, that shouldn't be logically possib—

Rayn's thoughts were interrupted sharply by his voice.

"Alright girly, say goodnight to your little green friend. You won't be seeing each other for a while." Hun laughed, shutting the door. Rayn exchanged a look with Leo.

"What is he..?"

Then a sickly green gas started filling the tiny van, making her cough and lean over the seat.

"Sleeping gas." Leo choked out in realization.

"Leo.." Rayn, nearly doubled over in her seat, fought the weariness wildly. "Keep.. close. It's the .. Only way." She coughed out. "They need to… keep us together."

Then she slumped in her seat, clearly having succumbed to the gas.

 _What is she talking about?_ Leo asked himself, as he felt his own vision grow darker. _How am I supposed to do that?_

His last sight before the world went dark was the door opening and a man watching them as they passed out.

—

"Come on, pick up." April huffed, holding her shell cell to her ear. She had tried both Leo and Rayn; neither answered. Now she tried Don.

The phone kept ringing and ringing.

"That's it, I'm going in." Casey growled, opening the door to the Battle Shell.

"Casey, wait." April put a hand on his shoulder. "We need to be here for them if they need us."

"Fine." Casey sat back in his seat, watching the smoke from the warehouse intently. "They have 5 minutes."

—

Inside the warehouse, Don had led Raph and Mikey to where he thought the other side of the rubble was.

They had to leap over a half-collapsed wall in the hallway, but they found the other entrance to the room.

"There's..no one here." Mikey glanced around briefly.

Don frowned. He was right. They must've escaped, or..

"Were they taken?" Raph finished Don's thought for him. "Why, that big ol'.."

"Do you think they're..?"Mikey asked the unspoken question.

"We don't know that for sure, to either of those things. For all we know they're just waiting for our rescue somewhere. Come on." Don led the way into the room, observing every inch closely.

The three fanned out, wary of the damaged walls and collapsing building. They didn't have long to look, so they moved and covered ground quick.

It only took them a few minutes to return back to the entrance, looking defeated. "I didn't find anything." Raph growled. "They must've been captured."

Don frowned, surveying the area yet again. Something was bugging him - knowing Leo, he'd surely put up a fight if they were surrounded. Something must have stopped him—

"Wait!" Mikey shouted, kneeling and pointing at something. "Look!"

He pointed towards a bracelet, half covered by fallen rubble. It was very simple, made of some kind of metal, and had a small part of it that almost looked like a watch.

"Mikey, wait—" Don called out as he realized what it was. But it was a second too late, Mikey had already reached to pick it up.

Instantly, the turtle jerked his hand back as if he'd been burned. Raph raced over to inspect it, instantly worried though he tried to hide it. "Mikey?" the hothead called out.

"It.. Zapped me!" Mikey yelped, holding his hand. Raphael reached out a hand and Mikey took it with his other hand, letting his brother pull him to his feet.

"It's Rayn's." Don whispered, reaching over and picking it up easily despite Raph and Mikey almost reaching to stop him.

"Why can you touch it?" Mikey complained. "Wait, isn't that the thing she had on in the lab before? And said it'd zap anyone who tries to touch it?"

"Yeah." Donnie frowned, deeply troubled. He recalled a conversation he had with Rayn a few days back.

 _Rayn was sitting at her desk, sitting at his computer when he entered the lab. Her bracelet and robot were strangely connected together with some sort of wires, and all of it was connected to his computer._

 _"Rayn, what are ya working on?" Don called out as he entered._

 _Rayn jumped, stifling a scream, and sighed as she spotted Don. "Don, don't do that. You guys and your ninja-sneak ups are going to give me a panic attack." She complained, having almost dropped her robot._

 _He held up both hands in apology, walking over. "Sorry."_

 _Rayn sighed, looking troubled. "Don, I need to ask a favor." She whispered, her face changing to look entirely serious. "I want to sync my robot to your aura, so that if I ever get captured, it won't fall into the wrong hands." She held up a hand before he could interrupt with a question. "It's synced to mine right now, in the event of my capture, I can enter a code and hand the controls to you. That way, you could keep it out of Wylan's or Hun's or whomever's hands. And maybe even use it to find me. Will you let me?"_

 _Frowning slightly, Don gave a single nod. "Of course." He answered almost immediately. "We're like family now, anyway." He said softly, briefly hiding his face to cover a blush._

 _She nodded, not noticing. "Thank you."_

 _"Just tell me what I need to do and how to work it."_

"Rayn.. Told me a few days ago she wanted to transfer the robot's controls to me in case she was captured." Don explained after a moment, not realizing Raph and Mikey were waiting for him. "She and Leo must have, because that's exactly what she did."

All three exchanged worried glances, as they heard a rumbling of the building's supports above them.


	20. The Shredder

She was in a dimly lit cave, and her hands were glowing. She wasn't sure how, but her own hands were providing the light to her surroundings.

She looked around, lifting a hand to provide light on the walls. The cave wasn't like your average bear-cave. The walls weren't rough, the floor wasn't damp, and it wasn't even cold.

Instead, the walls were smooth, tan in color, laid out like bricks on top of each other. She moved forward in awe towards the back of the cave, and her fingers touched something that broke the smooth walls. She looked closer, bringing a glowing hand to it - writing? She studied it further—

Rayn awoke with a gasp, as if she had just been slapped. Bright light streamed down on her face from a lamp above, and she tried to move a hand to cover her eyes but found them bound at her sides.

Why do I keep getting myself into these situations? Rayn thought to herself.

It was then she noticed her hands glowing slightly, though cuffed. But when she noticed it, it went out like a candle, leaving her hands normal as before.

I wonder if that was related to that dream.. She thought to herself.

"Well, looks like the little girl is up." A voice said from some part of the room that she couldn't see.

"What do you want?" She shouted. "Where's Leo?"

"Your little friend is safe." The figure stepped into the light and she flinched. "As long as you corporate."

The man was very distinctly Japanese. He wore a Japanese style kimono, with a belt at the waist and the emblem of the foot clan on either side of his chest. His hair was long and dark blue, his face angular and stern.

She instantly recognized him as Oroku Saki herself, since she was familiar with a lot of the city's business people through Wylan. But ever since meeting the turtle's, they told her of the other side of him as well.

"He's evil! And ugly looking!" Mikey had described him as. Yep, fit perfectly.

She kept silent. She needed time to find a way out of this mess.

"Cat got your tongue?" Saki laughed. "Pardon the expression."

"Just let me go, ya dang slug." Rayn snapping, glaring daggers.

Saki looked slightly amused. "Miss.. Rayn, is it?" He started to walk around her, observing her closely.

"You see, you, my dear, were apart of a special project." Step. Step. Step. His footsteps pacing around her were starting to make her head spin. "I had Hun send his men to specifically get you."

"Why? Why me?" Rayn couldn't stop herself from asking.

"You have something very important to me." Saki stopped in front of her. "That robot you made was created with some technology very important to my.. work."

Rayn frowned. She wasn't too sure where Wylan got the pieces she used in the robot. It seemed to be advanced technology and she remembered studying it in awe, but being unable to recreate it on her own.

"It's very impressive that you somehow managed to acquire it and create something so intriguing out of it. In fact, it may actually help me find what I've been searching for."

"Yeah, maybe your sanity? That could come in handy." She spat.

Saki looked less amused but ignored her comment. "I intend for you to give me it and help me seek those I am searching for, if you want your friend to live."

She gulped. For one thing, she didn't know for sure if her robot was still in one piece. She left it somewhere in the warehouse and it kind of collapsed. Another thing: Donatello and his brothers probably had it and were using it to rescue her.

She had to keep it out of this guy's hands, he was literally insane. Probably going to use it to seek revenge or something.

"Let Leo go, and then you'll get my help." Rayn stated with a glare.

"First you must tell me where you hid that robot of yours. My ninja report it was 'destroyed', but my source informs me you'd never do such a thing."

Wylan. She inwardly cursed, figuring he'd somehow saw through her bluff. But she had to keep it cool.

"It was destroyed." She managed to get out.

Saki frowned, studying her. "If you refuse, then we'll have to find some.. Other way to get the location from you." The man stepped away, muttering briefly into a communications device. "I'll leave you some time to consider your decision."

Then the man formally known as The Shredder walked out of the room, switching the light off and leaving her in darkness.

Food for thought:

Can you guess what kind of "technology" Rayn's robot was made from? And why Saki/The Shredder wants it so badly?


	21. Unexpected Ally

Well, in theory, using Rayn's robot to track her would work easily in a perfect world. In practice? Not so much.

After the building had started to fall on them, Mikey, Don, and Raph had booked it out of there to the Battle Shell. April and Casey spotted them and started asking a billion questions, to which they answered half-heartedly. They were missing a brother and a friend, and the tone turned solemn as they tried to figure out their next move.

So they went to the lair and sat in Donatello's lab, while he and April tried to figure out how to work Rayn's robot. It didn't exactly come with instructions.

"Man, this is stupid." Raph growled. "We should be out lookin', not sitting around twiddlin' our thumbs."

"But we don't know where they could be, Raph." Mikey pointed out in a moment of seriousness. "They could be anywhere in New York. I wish Leo were here, he'd know what to do."

The two fell into uneasy silence after that last sentence. Don looked up; Mikey looked almost like a lost puppy, not sure what to do. And Raph just looked ready to punch anything that moved.

"Easy, guys." The sensible turtle said, trying to get their hopes up. "Listen, we'll find them. We just need to figure this out."

"What about that Wylan guy?" Mikey asked suddenly. "What if he knows where they are? Isn't he working with Hun now or something?"

Both April and Don looked up from their work, directly at Mikey in surprise.

"Wow, Mikey, that's a good idea." Raph gruffly responded. "Except what if he's not home?"

"Well, we have to give him a reason to want to come home." Don replied immediately, helping form the plan. "We need to trigger his alarms so he thinks he's being robbed or something, but in a subtle way so he doesn't know it's us."

And with that, all three turtles were looking at Casey, who was only half paying attention.

"Why're you looking at me like that?" Casey asked after a moment.

Leo had woken up in a dark, plain room. There was no door, but he could guess it was behind some part of the wall. But being trapped in this room just made him worry more about his brothers and Rayn.

He thought about their last conversation.

Leave me, this is my fight. I don't want you to get hurt because of it.

Keep.. close. It's the .. Only way. They need to… keep us together.

What had she meant by that? How was he supposed to keep close if he didn't even know where she was? Or where he was, for that matter.

The sound of the door opening and quickly closing jolted him from his thoughts and he sat up. He wasn't even chained, so he had the basic freedom to take out whoever was coming for him.

The light flickered on, and a lone figure entered the room. Leo, momentarily blinded, leaped to his feet and almost charged the figure before seeing who it was.

It was Wylan, Rayn's old roommate.

"Stop." The man said, raising up a hand. "I'm not here because of them."

"And yet you've joined the side of the Shredder." Leo replied curtly. "Why should I trust you?"

"I don't want to do anything to you, I swear." Wylan sighed. "I just brought this." He handed Leo a small tray with rice, an apple and a glass of water. "They're keeping you here to get to Rayn, to make her do what they want."

Leo studied the tray quietly, pondering the words, before gently setting it on the ground. "And? What will they do to her?"

"I can't tell you.. I have to go." Wylan looked uncertain, conflicting emotions running over his features. Leo spotted fear, anxiety, and concern - probably for Rayn moreso than himself. He didn't comment, watching Wylan go back to the door. The man paused, turning back to Leo.

"Don't try anything until I tell you too.. They won't be happy if you or Rayn escape. There's a lot more happening that I don't know yet."

And then he disappeared out the door. Leo, despite all his instincts, didn't try to follow him; he needed a plan before he tried anything.

They need to… keep us together.

She must know something he didn't, and he was getting tired of not knowing anything. All he could really do was wait and plan his escape.

Rayn hadn't realized she dozed off until the sudden bright light and slamming of a door woke her up. She jerked awake, blinking at the sudden light and looking at the intruder.

It was Stockman.. Saki's little tech guru and one of the enemies she heard about from the guys.

"My, you're an interesting.. Specimen." Stockman spoke as he approached her. "I don't know what they see in you."

"Probably more than you considering 'they' seem to like my tech better." Rayn snapped.

Stockman took a step back, looking a little shocked by her anger. "What a temper."

She didn't respond, just glared at him.

"The Shredder wants me to run some tests on you, starting with something to figure out what makes you so special. So I'll have you follow me and we'll get started."

Stockman waited for a second then laughed. "Hah, silly me, like you can actually follow me when you're tied up." He then proceeded to drop her table, which she was still bound to, down so she sat like she was in a wheel chair. Then he calmly pushed her through the door and down a dark hallway.

She tried to make mental notes of where she was, but as she was pushed through winding hallways she quickly got lost.

"Oh, by the way," Stockman said after a moment of wheeling. "This will probably hurt."

Rayn gulped.

The sky had started to let out a steady drizzle, falling on the unusually quiet streets of New York as the Battle Shell sped past. It's occupants were quiet, each lost in individual thoughts.

Don parked the vehicle in a dark alleyway. All three of the turtles watched as Casey, dressed up in dark garments and wearing a ninja-esque mask picked out by April - exited the van.

Raphael and Michaelangelo followed shortly, climbing a fire escape onto a nearby roof to keep watch in case Casey needed backup, while Donatello and April stayed behind.

The plan was solid - not Leo solid, but solid enough to give them some way to figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, Donnie was still working on figuring out how to work the robot. It didn't have any controls, and he couldn't exactly take it apart, so his current idea was to experiment with the bracelet Rayn usually wore when he'd seen her testing it.

April watched Casey approach the building, not acting at all cautious. "Try to pretend you're scoping out the building or something, try to find a way to trigger the alarm." April suggest to Casey through the earpiece.

"You got it, babe." Casey's voice replied back.

April sighed. "Don't call me babe."

"Okay, Casey, looks clear. But no sign you've been noticed yet, maybe try to sneak in through a window or something." Don instructed Casey, looking up from what he was doing.

Casey glimpsed through a window to find pitch blackness. "Easier said than done." He muttered.

Wylan was starting at his phone in annoyance. His silent intruder alarms were picking up signs of a possible intruder back at his office building. He was not in the mood to deal with that.

Wylan was debating inwardly with himself between helping Rayn and her.. Friend escape, or just leaving them and letting this Shredder bozo continue his plan. He had hacked into the systems and tried to figure out where Rayn was, but much to his annoyance, this alarm had triggered before he could do anything. He flicked a switch on the laptop he was using to wipe all memory, deleting all evidence of his attempts to hack the system and preventing him from being caught. Then he grabbed his coat and headed to his car to take care of the "intruder" causing him so much grief right now.

"Yo Case, ya got company." Raph announced quietly over his shell cell.

Casey turned slightly as he spotted headlights in the distance, but quickly went back to pretending to pick the lock on the door. "I don't hear no alarm system." Casey called over his com link.

"It must be a silent alarm." Don explained quickly. "Okay, Raph, Mikey, your cue."

"Roger." Mikey saluted in the general direction of the Battle Shell, avoiding Raph's attempt to hit him, before somersaulting off the rooftop. He leaped gracefully down the fire escape and landed in a crouch behind a dumpster, deep in the shadows, before hearing the soft thump of his brother landing next to him.

"Bonehead." Raph muttered, to which Mikey smiled.

During this time, Wylan's car had plenty of time to park, and he had just exited his car.

The man surveyed the area, seeing a ton of shadows and one in particular man-shaped one standing at the entrance to his building. Wylan withdrew a long, hooked-shape blade from his coat, creeping slowly towards Casey. Mikey and Raph chose that moment to make their move, racing across the street behind the scientist's back, and leaping into the shadows once more.

And then everything happened at once: Wylan posed to strike, Casey turned sharply and hit the knife out of his hands, and then Wylan was gripped firmly by a reflexive Michaelangelo, forced up against the wall.

"Hiya, fancy seeing you here again." Mikey greeted.

Wylan, looking slightly confused and shocked by the sudden movements, opened his mouth to scream. Raph pressed one of his sai firmly against the man's throat, silencing his attempts to call for help.

"Ya got on my bad side last time we met, I suggest not doin' it again." The hot-head threatened.

"W-what do you want?" Wylan managed to get out.

"We're here for some answers, word has it you're working for Hun and his goons, we're missing family and we intend to get them back."

Blinking, realization dawned on Wylan as he realized these were mutant turtles that stood in front of him, not common street punks. Wylan sighed.

"Look, there's a lot more at play here than you people realize." He stammered. "You have to—"

"Then why don'cha 'splain everythin' ya know, we got all night." Raphael twirled a sai before sheathing it in his belt, keeping the other one steadily.

"Okay, just get your knife thing away from me so I can actually talk."

Raph sheathed his other sai, but kept a hand near his belt.

"Take him to the Battle Shell, we can question him somewhere else." Don's voice came over the turtles' earpieces.

"No funny moves." Raph warned as he and Mikey led Wylan back to the truck.

Wylan sighed. It seemed fate had chosen for him after all.

I let this chapter go a little longer. I also wrote Raph a little differently, to reflect more on his accent. I might go back and change the other chapters to mimic this change, hopefully it's not too drastic.

Food for thought:

Will Wylan willingly help them? What's in store for Rayn? What exactly does Wylan know about the whole situation? Leave your opinions!


End file.
